


Hero of Honor

by ficfanfoom7



Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-22 14:02:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 57,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30039807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ficfanfoom7/pseuds/ficfanfoom7
Summary: Heroes make an implicit oath to the people they serve that they will protect them from harm. Through otherworldly means, Izuku Midoriya will find that oaths can be sources of great power for those that keep them. Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to ACreativeMindAtWorkHere on FF.net for being the beta reader for this project.

The following is a nonprofit fan-based parody all rights reserved to Brandon Sanderson and Horikoshi Kohei. Please support the official releases.

Izuku Midoriya trembled as he stood in front of another child who was kneeling on the ground cradling a burnt shoulder. Advancing toward his position was a small gang of equally young boys. The one on the right was a heavy-set boy with red bat wings who seemed to be hovering slightly. On the left was a thin boy whose fingers were extending grotesquely. And in the middle, the obvious leader of the group, was a blond spiky-haired boy who pounded one of his fists into his other palm, the impact causing a slight pop and letting out smoke with the smell of burnt sugar. 

“Well, well, well, what do you think you’re doing Deku?” the spiky-haired boy asked, wearing a smile that poorly disguised the anger he felt at the situation.

“Stop it Kacchan.” the trembling boy responded, “can’t you see he is crying. This isn’t something a hero would do.”

Even though the boy trembled he stood in the three bullies’ way with his hands held in front of himself forming shaky fists. Seeing the boy’s resolution, weak as it was, seemed to only stoke the gang leader’s anger even higher. Faster than would be expected of one so young, Kacchan lunged forward grabbing the front of the other boy’s shirt.

“What would you know about how heroes would act?” The boy said maliciously, “You are nothing but a quirkless Deku. You won’t ever be a hero.”

As he finished talking the spiky-haired boy pushed the other to the ground, his push strengthened by an explosion from his palms which left burn marks on the other boy’s shirt. Seeing that the target of their leader’s ire had switched, the other two members of the gang of bullies moved to flank the boy who had stood up to them. Circling the heroic boy they joined in on the teasing.

“Yeah loser,” the long-fingered boy said.

“Your nothing but a quirkless nobody.” the winged boy added.

Each time the boy tried to stand the bullies would push him back down. The winged boy would lift himself into the air then grab his shoulders or a fistful of his messy green hair and drop his weight causing the smaller boy to buckle under the sudden load. The long-fingered boy would stretch out his digits and wrap them around one of the boy’s ankles and pull his feet out from under him. Finally, the leader would continue to push on him, each push powered by an explosive force. As they did this they would kick dirt and pea gravel on him they continued to berate him with names and ridicule.

“Quirkless”

“Loser”

“Deku”

Eventually, the subject of their bullying collapsed to the ground, his body and spirit exhausted from the constant abuse. Seeing that the boy’s defiance had stopped, the leader of the group of bullies turned and began to walk away. The winged boy immediately left as well following behind his explosive leader. The long-fingered boy, on the other hand, gave one last kick to the boy on the ground’s side before he left, smiling nastily as he went. 

The young hero hopeful curled up on his side clutching the final injury. After a moment he opened his eyes, which had been reflexively closed at the sudden pain from the kick, and looked at the boy he had stood in front of. A part of him tried to take solace in the fact that he had saved the boy from further pain but looking into the boy’s eyes all he could see was fear. Despite Izuku’s efforts, he hadn’t saved the boy. He may have prevented the boy from getting hurt but the bullying that followed only made the boy fear for his own safety more. Rolling back onto his back Izuku looked at the sky forlornly. 

“Maybe they are right.” he thought to himself, “maybe I am just a worthless Deku.”

As he thought this a slight breeze picked up and out of the bushes nearby zoomed a small blue light that seemed to dance on the currents of air. Flitting down to Izuku it circled him a few times before flying away toward the three bullies who still happened to be close by. The light circled the three bullies’ heads as they talked the other two laughing at something Kacchan had said. None of them reacted to the light, no one but Izuku ever seemed to be able to see it, as it dropped and seemed to settle on one of the explosive boy’s shoes before it suddenly took off and began to float lazily near Izuku’s head.

Izuku watched as the bullies seemed to finish their conversation and Kacchan began to turn, presumably to lead them to wherever they planned to go. As he tried to lift his foot, however, he seemed to stumble as it refused to leave the ground. The boy’s excellent reflexes allowed him to catch himself before he fell, but he stared at his foot in confusion. He tried to lift it again but it refused to move. Looking around he appeared to be searching for something, a nearby person who had a quirk that would explain this perhaps, but the park was mostly empty. Looking back to his shoe he began to pull harder but nothing happened. His two lackeys said something but he just snapped at them and gave one final mighty pull. Whatever was holding his shoe down disappeared and his foot shot up destroying the boy’s balance and making him fall back. Before he could land on his butt his winged companion moved forward and caught the other boy, placing him back on his feet. Kacchan froze for a moment before he exploded in unbridled fury at the winged boy. His hand launched forward and he blasted the boy in the chest sending him careening through the air. Turning away from the last member of his little gang Kacchan began to stomp away his face showing a burning simmer of rage.

The long-fingered boy seemed lost for a second looking between the direction his leader had left and the direction his friend had been blown in. After a moment, he made a decision and ran toward his winged friend. Arriving at the quivering form the long-fingered boy helped his friend to his feet and the two of them walked off together in the opposite direction that their leader had gone in.

Izuku was conflicted in his feelings about what he had just witnessed. A part of him was glad that something had made Kacchan look foolish, but he had also known that the boy would not react well especially if someone tried to help him. He had been friends with Katsuki Bakugou for most of his life and it had been an event similar in many ways to what had just happened that started their friendship toward its current state.

The breeze picked up again and Izuku could just barely hear what sounded like a childish giggle. Whipping his head around he instead only saw the small blue light bounce away carried on the wind.

“What are you?” Izuku asked himself as he contemplated the small ball of light.

* * *

The day Izuku had been diagnosed quirkless had been the worst of his short life. It had started fine with him adding a few more views to his favorite hero videos and then excitedly waiting at the hospital to hear about his results. Then the doctor gave the bad news.

“It’s hopeless for him.” the man said bluntly, “he should give it up.”

The doctor and Izuku’s mother, Inko, had gone on to discuss the details of how the doctor knew for sure, but all Izuku could think about was the death sentence that the doctor had given to his dream. Izuku stared at the man’s dark glasses and bushy mustache as he tried to process what it would mean to be quirkless.

Numbly, he let his mother lead him by the hand first to the car, then to their apartment. She allowed him to sit in front of the computer and watch videos that showed heroes as they fought valiantly against villains, or gave interviews where they gave hope to the masses. Soon, he was once again viewing the video of his favorite hero’s Japanese debut when he spoke for the first time since coming back from the doctor’s office.

“Mom, he is never afraid,” Izuku said in a quiet voice that his mother barely heard, “and he’s smiling. No matter what kind of trouble you’re in he will always save you.”

Turning to his mother, Izuku couldn’t hold back the tears anymore as he told his mom his dream. “A super cool hero like that, that is what I want to be.”

It was too much for her, seeing her son broken like that so all the mother could do was fall to her knees and hold him as she cried out apology after apology never knowing that her words only hurt him more because they told him she had given up on his dream as much as the doctor had.

That night Izuku had gone to bed with his entire foundation shaken. His sense of self was based on his dream to be a hero. Now that his dream was in question he didn’t know what to believe anymore.

Waking up the next morning Izuku was filled with a profound sense of sadness. When he walked out of his room, however, he saw his mother sitting at their dinner table, her head in her hands with a cup of coffee in front of her. From the surprising perceptiveness that children seem to have Izuku knew that his mother’s sadness was caused by his circumstance. At that moment Izuku vowed that he would protect his mother. If she was sad because he was thinking of giving up his dream then he would never under any circumstances give it up again. Pushing his sadness and his sense of loss from his mind, Izuku twisted his face into his best All Might smile and approached his mother. 

“Good morning Mom!” Izuku said with as much cheer as he could muster.

Inko jumped slightly at Izuku’s sudden exclamation and turned to look at her soon. She stared for a moment at his smiling face before she spoke.

“Good morning sweetie,” She said cautiously, “How are you feeling today?”

‘I’m fine” Izuku said, again forcing himself to be cheerful, “Even though the doctor said I won’t get a quirk, I-i don’t care I’ll still be a hero.” It was hard for him to get the sentence out. Just thinking about the doctor’s words made the feelings of loss and sadness inside begin to surge, but Izuku muscled through them to make his declaration.

Inko could see that it hurt Izuku to say that but she could also see that he was trying to act the same as he had before the doctor’s diagnosis. She had a feeling he was doing it for her, after all, she knew just how selfless and special her son was. Putting on her own smile she responded to her son’s words.

“I’m so proud,” She said, holding back her tears, “how about you go and get ready for school while I make breakfast.”

“Ok,” Izuku said before turning back to his room.

Once the two were no longer facing each other their smiles fell. The Midoriya’s had always been an expressive family. The day Izuku’s father had been transferred to work overseas had been a day full of tears and exclamations of love. The concept of hiding their feelings from each other was difficult for the two of them so as soon as they could they dropped their facades. Inko stood to make breakfast, suddenly feeling rather hungry after the stressful night she had.

A few hours late Izuku was sitting alone in the yard of his elementary school. When he had arrived at school that morning the other children had come up to him to ask him what his quirk was. He had said he still wasn’t sure. He wasn’t comfortable with lying but he figured it wasn’t a complete lie because the doctor might be wrong about him being quirkless. When recess had started the children had decided to start a game of soccer and Kacchan, Izuku’s best friend had wanted him to join his team. But Izuku had denied the invitation, claiming that he wanted to sit and think about things. Kacchan had playfully called him a nerd but eventually went off to play with all the other kids who followed him around because of his amazing quirk.

Sitting under a tree that grew on the edge of the schoolyard, Izuku watched as the slight breeze gently shook the leaves. As he looked into the canopy, he noticed a flash of light amidst the foliage. At first, he thought he had just glimpsed the sun through the leaves but looking at the tree’s shadow told him that the position of the light was wrong for where the sun should be. Rubbing his eyes trying to clear his sight in case it was just a random spot he looked back at the leaves and tried to focus on the small flash of light he thought he had seen bouncing around.

After looking closely at it long enough, it was like the light snapped into focus and he saw clearly amidst the leaves a small blue ball of light. He watched it for a moment and realized that it seemed to almost be playing a game of some kind. It would sit on a leaf and wait until the leaf was shaken by the wind enough to cause it to fall to a lower leaf. Eventually, it would bounce all the way down like a sentient Pachinko ball until it fell beneath the lowest branch where it would then fly back up to the top of the tree and do it all over again. 

Izuku was fascinated. What could this little bit of light be? He quickly whipped his head around the schoolyard looking to see if it might be one of the other children using their quirk. However, after looking carefully around, he couldn’t see any of the other kids focusing on the tree he was under. Flipping around he looked out past the fence that surrounded the school to see if there was anyone on the street, but the street was empty. There were a few people walking around but they all seemed preoccupied and none stayed in the vicinity of the tree. Looking back up Izuku again saw the light, it had just finished another round of its game when it seemed to freeze. The light didn’t have eyes but Izuku could somehow feel that the light’s attention was on him. It was like they both locked eyes and were stuck staring at each other. Izuku didn’t know why but somewhere deep inside of him he felt a part of himself almost call out to the ball of light. A weak hope bloomed in his chest. Could it be that this was his quirk?

He focused on the light and used every ounce of will in his body to try and get the light to move, or shine brighter, or do anything in response to his desires. The light did nothing. No matter what Izuku did. He even called to the light out loud, quietly so as not to call attention to himself, but the light ignored him. Finally, Izuku gave up trying. Either the light wasn’t his quirk after all, or it was a completely useless quirk that would be of no help to anyone. 

With a sigh, Izuku stood to go and began walking across the field. He took a few steps when suddenly the light zipped in front of him and hovered in front of his face. The light seemed to vibrate with excitement; its, for lack of a better word, body language being a mix between an excited puppy and a child that was seeing their father or mother come home from work. Izuku was once again captivated by the thing until his attention was grabbed by someone calling his name.

“Deku, what are you looking at?” Katsuki called.

“Huh?” Izuku responded, confused by his friend’s question, “Can’t you see it?”

Now it was Katsuki’s turn for befuddlement. He looked his friend up and down. Concerned that he appeared to be captivated by the air in front of him.

“Are you going crazy or something?” Katsuki asked rhetorically, 

“Whatever, we are starting a new game and I saw you get up so I wanted to see if you’d join,” Katsuki said, dismissing the conversation they had been having.

“Oh,” Izuku said, “Sure I guess.”

Right as he finished speaking the bell rang signaling the end of recess. The two boys groaned but they made their way toward the building for their next class. Izuku didn’t seem to notice that the strange ball of light was following behind him. However, when the children had all settled back in their seats Izuku saw that right before the teacher closed the classroom door the ball of light zipped inside and began to drift around the room. 

Izuku found it hard to focus on the rest of the lessons for that day as the light seemed to curiously poke its head into every nook and cranny of the classroom. Near the end of the day, it settled down on the corner of Izuku’s desk. When the final bell rang Izuku watched as the light seemed to inspect the supplies that Izuku used during class. Izuku packed up his things until the only thing left was his pencil bag. The light seemed to be peering inside and seeing that gave Izuku an idea. Moving slowly so as not to startle the thing away, Izuku reached out and grabbed the sides of his pencil bag. Then as quickly as he could he lifted the bag so that the small light was inside it and zipped it shut. 

He didn’t know if it was possible to trap the thing but he figured he would try. Picking up the pencil bag he ran from the room and hurried out of the school tossing a quick goodbye to his friend. Once he was out of the school he was only a short walk away from his house. He ran all the way home clutching the pencil bag to his chest. When he got there, he quickly opened and shut the door and kicked off his shoes. Running past the kitchen where he saw his mother eating a snack, he quickly shouted a greeting as he ran to his room.

Slamming the door shut behind himself he slowed down and looked at the pencil bag he had been holding as securely and as gently as possible. He hoped that the sudden capture and transportation of the small light hadn’t hurt it. Walking to his desk he placed the pencil bag down and got out one of his notebooks for taking notes about the heroes he watched online. Turning to a blank page, Izuku wrote at the top “Light Ball Facts.” With all of his things prepared, he turned back to the pencil case and tentatively pulled open the zipper at the top. Izuku was confused but quickly became dejected when nothing happened after it was fully opened.

“Of course you can’t catch light.” the child said chidingly to himself.

Right as he was about to put his stuff away, however, he looked back to the pencil bag and froze because right above it hovered the small ball of light vibrating. Only this time it didn’t seem to give off happy vibrations as it had at the schoolyard.

Now it was vibrating like a pressure cooker that was about to explode. Suddenly the light started to move around erratically, it would zip left and right then zoom so close to Izuku’s face that he went cross-eyed trying to follow it. As he watched it his hand slowly reached toward his pen to take notes. While his hand was moving toward the pen, the light zoomed down and reached it first, buzzing angrily around it before floating back up and stopping in mid-air. It seemed to be watching Izuku and the pen. Moving quickly, Izuku reached for the pen and tried to pick it up. It slipped from his fingers sticking to the desk.

Izuku stared at the pen shocked. He tried again with the same result. Looking around his desk he found a plastic ruler that he sometimes used when he was drawing. Placing the edge under the pen he tried to pry it up off the desk. The ruler snapped in his hand. He looked at the ruler and pen in disbelief before looking at the light once more, amazement shining in his eyes.

“You have a quirk,” he said excitedly.

Reaching for a new pen he sat back at his desk and began to make notes about the strange light. After giving a brief description of the light he started writing down his other observations.

“Has feelings”

“Can be caught”

As he continued to write he watched as the light started to float around the room and stare at the various hero merchandise he had displayed. 

“Appears curious,” he wrote

Stopping his note-taking Izuku looked back at the light which had decided to land on his bed. Thinking back to the emotions that the light seemed to show when it flew out of his bag Izuku started to feel bad about essentially abducting the small creature. Mustering up his courage Izuku spoke.

“Um,” he started saying uncertainly, “I am sorry for trapping you like I did.”

The light floated off the bed and Izuku felt its attention switch to himself. Again he wasn’t sure why he felt that way, it’s not like the creature had eyes or a face. But he was able to get a sense of when the little light was looking at him.

“I just didn’t know whether or not you would follow me home and I didn’t want to lose the chance to learn more about you.” Izuku finished his apology.

The light hung in the air for a few moments before again starting to float around the room. Izuku sat, uncertain if anything he had said made sense to the light. It seemed to respond to him but that could just be the sound of his voice. Turning back to his notes he wrote.

“Able to communicate?”

As he studied the light, he was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door.

* * *

Inko had not been having a very good day. After Izuku had left for school she had gone back to bed to take a nap. She had not slept well the night before with the earth-shattering news about Izuku’s quirk and the emotionally draining evening watching her son breakdown at the loss of his dream she had spent most of the night tossing and turning in her bed before giving up on sleep at about 4 in the morning. 

After getting up a few hours later she had gone through her normal morning routine of tidying up the house. She was very lucky that she didn’t need to work, Hizashi’s overseas position came with a pay increase that made sure that her and Izuku’s needs were met even though it took him away from their family. She had tried to call him last night when he would be free but in the end, couldn’t bring herself to do it because she was still processing the news herself. Inko had made a promise to herself though that no matter what, tonight she would give him a call 

With all of her housework done Inko resolved herself to facing the issue head-on. Deciding she needed more information she opened her computer. Closing out of most of the tabs that featured videos of heroes Izuku had been watching, she opened a search engine and typed in the word that she now feared would forever define her son’s life; quirkless. 

The first batch of results that she found were research papers documenting the numbers of quirkless people in the population. Apparently, 80% of the population developed some form of quirk. However, of the 20% that didn’t have quirks over half of that number was found in people over the age of 65. Also, in younger people, quirklessness was often tied to some other genetic disorder. After finishing the article Inko learned that the chances of a perfectly healthy child, like Izuku, being born quirkless were 1 in 200 million. 

“I always knew Izuku was special,” Inko said to herself, trying to keep her spirits up.

Though, as she sat looking at the number she couldn’t keep up the facade. The weight of what she had found out crashed onto her shoulders and she couldn’t stop herself from slumping forward and sobbing into her hands.

“How could this happen to him?” she thought to herself, but immediately felt guilty at the thought. It wasn’t like Izuku had been diagnosed with a disease or disorder. He was still a healthy, bright, and kind boy. But all she could think about was his reaction after watching the videos of the heroes he admired. 

What truly made Izuku special wasn’t that he looked up to heroes, all children looked up to the heroes in their society. No, what made Izuku special was that he looked up to them because they saved people. It wasn’t because they had cool powers, or because they wore cool outfits; Izuku idolized the selfish nature of hero work and his dream had been to help others himself, and now it looked like the dream was impossible for him to reach.

Unable to handle the topic anymore Inko stood up and began to pace around her apartment. Eventually, she found her way to the kitchen and pulled out a snack from the cupboard. A part of her knew that she shouldn’t be snacking like she was, but with all that was happening she needed some form of comfort to help deal with the stress.

After taking her break she felt she needed to get back to her research. She needed to know if Izuku’s dream really was dead. So with hesitant fingers, she went back to the search engine and typed in the words “quirkless hero.” For these results, the first batch held a few heroes giving interviews where they spoke about quirkless people. She watched through some of them but they were mostly heroes giving platitudes that they didn’t view quirkless as lesser and that they cared about all people equally. She quickly moved on knowing that those would give no consolation to her son. Scrolling down further through the results she found several articles talking about some of the first heroes to ever emerge back when most of the population hadn’t developed quirks of their own. Again she knew they would be of no help. 

After 45 minutes of sifting through the articles, she found it. There had been one, a hero without a quirk. He had emerged back when the ratio of quirked to quirkless in the population was still closer to 50%. He called himself Vitruvius, the name being a reference to an ancient inventor. Inko read through the information about him with hope starting to bloom from her chest. There were a few videos of him fighting people, none of them with particularly strong quirks, but he won and arrested the villains. There was even a video of him giving an interview.

“The reason I chose to be a hero even without a quirk is to show that it isn’t the power that makes a hero but the heart behind it,” Vitruvius said.

His career had been a subject of controversy, many people calling him a madman that put the public in danger with his message, but there was an equal number of people praising him for inspiring the quirkless population that had begun to feel that evolution had left them behind. Inko finally felt hope again. Maybe she could still believe in her son’s dream. If this man had done it, maybe Izuku could too. 

Then she found an article titled “The Fate of Vitruvius” and her growing hope died a painful death. The hero had been making a public appearance at a quirkless people’s rally when a van pulled up and a group of villains jumped out and grabbed the hero. He was quickly overpowered by the villain's quirks and taken away. Four days later he was found nailed to the side of a building his arms and legs splayed out and his costume in shreds. Underneath a message had been scrawled saying “Quirkless Know Your Place.”

Inko numbly closed the program window and walked back to the kitchen. She unconsciously grabbed a bag of chips and started eating. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t get the image of the dead hero out of her mind. Worse, her mind seemingly on its own was superimposing the face of Izuku onto the bloody body. She was once again lost, what should she do. Should she continue to support Izuku’s dream knowing that his dream would likely lead to a painful death, or did she try to make sure he gave up his dream to protect him? What was the right choice for a mother in her situation? She felt helpless. 

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and shutting in quick succession. A few moments later Izuku rushed past the kitchen throwing out a quick, “Hi Mom,” as he went. Inko was frozen in shock. Not at the fact that Izuku was home, though she had lost track of time, but at the way Izuku had looked. She had feared that when he got home the weak mask he had put on this morning would be gone. She had feared that he would be bullied at school when the other kids found out that he was quirkless. She had feared that she would once again see the broken look in his eyes that he had shown her the night before. Instead, Izuku had looked normal when he got home. She had only seen a glimpse of him as he rushed past but in that glimpse, she saw the same excitement that he had shown every day before that fateful visit to the doctor.

“What could have happened?” she asked herself, “Did he meet a hero or something?”

For a moment Inko was lost in thought trying to puzzle out why her son was acting the way he was, but in the end, she gave up and decided to just go and talk to him. Turning around she looked at the kitchen and saw that she had made something of a mess from all the wrappers of the snacks she had eaten. Again a part of her worried at the number of wrappers on the counter but she pushed it away choosing to focus on her son. Her tidying done, and a small plate loaded with snacks for Izuku, she made her way to his room. As she approached, however, she paused as she heard a voice coming from inside.

“He doesn’t have people over.” she said to herself, “Who could he be talking to?”

Izuku didn’t yet have a phone, Hisashi and she felt he was still too young for one, and her own was still on her nightstand plugged in as far as she knew. Putting this new conundrum to the side she gently reached up and knocked on the door. 

“Izuku honey, can I come in?” she asked, “I brought you a snack.”

She waited patiently until she heard Izuku say “okay.” Opening the door Inko’s eyes scanned the room looking for the source of the voice but the only person in the room was her son sitting at his desk, one of his notebooks opened.

“Honey?” Inko said curiously, “I thought I heard talking, were you on the phone with someone?”

Izuku looked back at her but instead of answering, asked his own question.

“Mom, do you see anything weird on my bed?” 

Inko looked back at the bed and scanned it carefully. Not seeing anything she answered carefully.

“I'm not sure honey, what should I be looking for?”

“Nothing,” Izuku said quickly, “I was just talking to myself. That’s what you heard, sorry.”

Inko was unsure about his response. Izuku was always an honest boy but something about the way he spoke made her feel like he was hiding something. After a moment, however, she decided to let it go. She trusted that Izuku would come to her if it were something truly important. Instead, she decided to try and broach the topic that she had been wrestling with all day.

“Izuku,” she said, grabbing his attention again, “How are you feeling?”

Izuku looked puzzled for a moment so she decided to clarify,

“About what we found out yesterday,” she said. 

She saw Izuku’s eyes drop as the topic was brought up. 

“Honey, I know it was hard to hear what the doctor said so please talk to me so that I can help.” 

Izuku looked down for a moment like he was thinking about it. Inside Inko’s heart was clenching in preparation. What would she see when her son looked up again? Would she see the same broken sadness she had seen the night before? Would she see a delusional denial of the truth? How would she react if he said he still wanted to be a hero after learning what she had today. Her internal worries were all halted when Izuku looked up and she saw the intensity that was almost glowing in his eyes.

“Mom,” he said in a serious voice, “I know it will be hard but I want you to know with or without a quirk, I am still going to be a hero.”

Inko was floored by his words. There was a conviction that you would never expect from a boy as young as he. In her mind, flashes of the hero Vitruvius flew through her head, but in the face of her son’s declaration she squashed them down. If he still wanted to believe in himself then so would she. She didn’t know if she could hold to that as the years went by but for now, she would support her boy’s dream.

“Ok Izuku,” she said.

They both sat quietly looking into each other’s eyes for a moment. Until Inko broke the eye contact and spoke again.

“Well, I brought you a little snack to hold you over until dinner. We should eat in a few hours. Is that alright?”

Izuku smiled at her and nodded his head. She placed the plate on his desk and took the opportunity to peek into his journal.

“Light?” she thought, “must be some new quirk he saw at school.”

Giving her son a quick hug Inko then made her way out of the room to start getting things ready for dinner.

* * *

As the door closed behind his mother Izuku’s eyes immediately turned to the light which was once again lazily floating around the room. When his mother had appeared it had been on the bed which was why he asked his mother to look at it but shortly after she completely entered the room the little light had started to circle her head excitedly. That was one of the reasons Izuku had looked down, so that he wouldn’t be distracted by the light, allowing him to focus on their conversation. 

Izuku thought about the declaration he had made when his mother asked him about how he was feeling. If Izuku was being completely honest with himself he was still saddened by the news he received but he would stand by the oath he had made that morning that he would never give up on his dream so that he wouldn’t make his mom sad like she had been last night. He was disappointed that when he said he would be a hero to her she hadn’t seemed to agree with him but regardless he planned to keep his promise.

Turning back to his journal he decided to add one more thing before he put it away and started on his homework. 

“Only I can see it.”

As he put his journal away and pulled out his workbook he spared a glance for the floating light. What a weird thing it was and how odd that it found him the day after he received the worst news in his life.

* * *

Years passed and the little floating light was Izuku’s constant companion. It wouldn’t stay by his side every minute of every day, but it was there more often than not. Sometimes he would go outside and the light would be carried away on the wind but it was never gone for more than a day at a time. It seemed to be most excited on stormy days. Whenever there were strong winds and lightning the little ball of light seemed to love to go out and fly up to the clouds. Izuku tried to find other things that it liked. He had left out many different kinds of food and drinks for it to see if it ate any of them but even though it would hover over the offerings and seemed to vibrate in pleasure at them the light didn’t seem to eat or drink. 

Over the years though Izuku did begin to notice certain changes in his invisible friend. It started on that day in the park when Izuku had heard the giggling. The light was always a prankster, sometimes making Izuku’s pen or book stick to his desk in the middle of class, sometimes targeting the other kids randomly. But as time went on the light seemed to become more intelligent. Rather than targeting students at random, it started to focus on those that bullied Izuku, mainly focusing on Katsuki and whoever happened to be following him around at the time. Before long though Izuku began to hear giggles more often after a prank had been set up. It got to the point where Izuku would know that something was about to happen by the giggles that would mysteriously appear. Eventually, that escalated to hearing words or phrases like “gotcha” or “watch this.” To be honest, a part of Izuku was afraid that he was losing his mind. Until one day when he was twelve, he was sitting in his room studying when a small blue girl wearing a copy of his school's female uniform appeared floating in the air before him reading the workbook he was currently working on.

Izuku froze at the sight of her. His brain locked up; as if someone had slammed on the breaks. The small girl just floated oblivious to the panic attack that was starting to creep up on the naturally anxious boy. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and he exploded.

‘WHAAAAAAAAA!!!” Izuku screamed and pushed away from the desk. His chair rolling back on its wheels sent him careening to the other side of the room.

When he stopped Izuku sat staring wide-eyed at the blue girl and breathed deeply trying to calm down his racing heart. The girl had jumped slightly and was staring back at Izuku, apparently incredulous at his reaction. Before either of them could make any kind of move the sound of frantic footsteps could be heard and the bedroom door slammed open revealing the form of Inko Midoriya, she was slightly heavier than she was when Izuku was a child but she hadn’t completely lost her figure yet. 

“IZUKU!” his mother screamed, “What happened, are you ok?”

Izuku’s eyes went from his mother to the girl and back and he realized that his mother couldn’t see her.

“U-uh, y-y-yeah,” Izuku stammered, “I am fine, I just saw a spider and it startled me.”

Inko immediately looked toward his desk, looking clearly in the direction of the floating girl, and gave no reaction to her.

“Do you need a magazine or something?” Inko then asked.

“No, it’s fine.” Izuku replied, “I can handle it. Sorry I scared you.”

“Okay,” Inko said, “Well dinner will be ready at 6:00”

“Thanks Mom, Love you.”

With that final farewell, Inko left closing the door on her way out. Once she was gone Izuku looked back at the mysterious girl only for her to be floating right in front of his face causing him to jump again.

“Why are you so jumpy Izuku?” the girl asked.

“How do you know my name?’ Izuku asked back.

The small girl smiled ruefully, “Silly Izuku,” she said cutely, “we have been together for years now, of course I know your name.”

Things started to click in Izuku’s head. His mom couldn’t see her. The way she floated in the air, she even glowed the same hue of blue.

“Y-you-your the light spirit thingy!” Izuku exclaimed.

The small figure puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and ineffectually stamped her foot.

“How dare you.” she said, “I am not a light spirit thingy. I am a spren.”

“A what?”

“A SPREN!” Suddenly the girl was in front of him, her eyes angry and a single finger held up in front of her. “Say it with me S-P-R-E-N.”

“Spren'' Izuku said, trying out the word in his own mouth. The word sounded foreign, but he had never heard it in any of his English textbooks. 

“That’s right,” The girl said, her face showing a bubbly personality again.

“Ok,” Izuku said hesitantly, “but what is a spren?”

“I am a splinter of divinity.” the spren explained in a haughty tone, “think of me as a little god come down to bless you with my presence.”

“Where did you come from then?”

“I have no idea,” she said, becoming dejected as she did. “All I remember is somehow coming to your world and then floating around mindlessly until one day,” she pointed back at Izuku, causing him to go slightly cross-eyed as he looked at her finger, “you noticed me and I have been following you ever since.”

“Speaking of,” The girl said mischievously before she abruptly appeared in front of Izuku’s face, beating her tiny fists against his forehead, “You meanie! You closed me up in a pencil bag and abducted me all so you could do experiments on me in your room.”

Izuku blushed furiously at her phrasing. Leaning back he placed his hands in front of his face changing the target of her pointless beating. 

“P-please don’t say it like that,” Izuku said, “I said I was sorry, and I will apologize again if you would like.”

When she heard his response and looked into his eyes she sighed and stopped flailing her fists. 

“Fiiiine” she sighed, “I just can’t stay mad at you, it would be like kicking a puppy.”

Izuku was abashed at her description of him but he quickly forgot about it as something else occurred to him.

“I have to write this down,” he said and began to scoot toward his desk where his book bag was. Reaching in he pulled out a notebook titled “Quirk Research for my Future Vol 10.” Ever since he was young Izuku loved to take detailed notes of the quirks and heroes he came in contact with. At the back of each of these journals; however, was another section that he reserved for his observations about the ball of light that followed him around. Now he opened to that section and the first thing he did was cross out the title “Light Ball Facts” and change it to “Spren Facts.” Internally Izuku sighed at the thought that he would need to change the title in all ten of his notebook but not doing it would bug him. With that correction made he started to write down everything that he had just talked about with the floating girl, not noticing as she floated over his shoulder to peer at what he was doing.

“So this entire time you have been writing stuff about me in these journals huh?” the small blue girl said, startling Izuku from his focused writing. He turned to look at her and caught her looking at him with narrowed eyes.

“Perv.” she accused.

Izuku’s blush reignited at the spren’s accusation.

“N-n-no!” Izuku said, “It’s not anything like that I was just trying to learn more about what you were, and…” Izuku’s words trailed off into incoherent mumbling as he tried to explain his purposes for the journal. Eventually, his muttering was interrupted by the sound of laughter.

“Oh Honor,” the spren said, holding her stomach and rolling around in the air, “you should have seen your face.”

Again the near-constant blush on Izuku’s face intensified due to his embarrassment.

“So cruel,” he said, starting to get teary-eyed from the teasing.

“Oh calm down.” the girl said as she settled down from her laughter, “I was just joking.”

Floating down, she settled on the desk in front of Izuku standing with a straight-backed posture.

“I am actually grateful that you were so focused on me. It really helped our bond strengthen. Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Seranota, please be kind to me.” After she introduced herself she bowed formally.

Izuku, nearly dumbstruck, offered his own introduction and bowed in response. From that day on Seranota, or Sera as she later asked to be called, was both more interesting and more troublesome for Izuku. On the one hand, he actually found it nice that he was able to talk to her about some of the observations that he had made up to this point. He learned more about her abilities such as her ability to adhere objects to each other. Unfortunately, now her endless curiosity came with a near-endless running commentary. Luckily Izuku was able to avoid any new suspicion that he was going crazy by disguising his conversations with Sera as more of the muttering that he was already known for. Not that it stopped people from thinking he was even more creepy due to the increased muttering.

However, Sera’s sudden change did have one overwhelmingly positive result. Izuku finally had something he had been missing for years; a friend. Izuku would spend hours with Sera discussing his analysis of heroes and their quirks. She wouldn’t always have much to say but it was so nice for Izuku to have someone who would listen to him and not belittle his comments. She would even help, as best as she could, when Izuku had to deal with bullies. Once, as Katsuki was once again explaining to Izuku how useless he was, Sera had floated behind him and turned into a miniature version of the boy. She then proceeded to mock the boy’s actions giving him over exaggeratedly sharp teeth and devil-horns before miming out him blowing himself up accidentally. Izuku was so busy trying not to laugh at her impromptu show that he ignored most of what Katsuki said and after getting his customary shove to the ground he had just stood up and walked away. 

Even Inko noticed the change in her son. She had done her best over the years to be accepting of her son’s dream to be a hero even if she couldn’t fully bring herself to support it. But, in the last couple of years, she had noticed that Izuku was happier and more lively after coming home from school. That’s not to say there weren’t still bad days, sometimes he would come home and she would notice that his palms were scuffed or that he had a red welt on his arm or shoulder. She had asked him about them in the past but he would just claim that they were caused by him tripping in gym class or some other innocent reason. However, on most days he had an air of contentment. When she asked him about his day he would tell random facts that they had covered in class or occasionally give some excited recounting of a hero he had seen during his commute. As a whole she was feeling cautiously optimistic about her son’s future, she was nervous about him still carrying the dream of being a hero, but she supposed she would deal with it fully when he tried to get into a hero school after graduating from junior high

* * *

Izuku ran to school excitedly. He was about two months into his third year at Aldera Junior High and he had been lucky enough to see an honest to goodness hero battle on his way to school.

“Can you believe it Sera?” Izuku said to his invisible companion, “We saw a hero's live debut. Wasn’t it awesome?”

“Yeah,” the spren floating near his shoulder responded, “but it wasn’t very honorable for her to steal the spotlight like that. I mean the wood arms guy basically did all the fighting and she came in at the very end.”

“Maybe you are right,” Izuku said back, as he slowed seeing the school approaching in the distance, “but the hero world is competitive. It is important that you make a big splash at the beginning of your career to make a name for yourself.”

“But that goes against what it means to even be a hero. I couldn’t imagine any of the top 10 heroes doing something like that. Except maybe Endeavor he always seemed like a real meanie.” Sera replied.

Izuku huffed in response but he stayed quiet because they were approaching the stream of students entering the school’s gates and he didn’t want to appear like he was talking to himself. As he entered the school grounds he shifted slightly, eyes darting around looking for danger. Even though Sera made it easier to cope with the bullies Izuku still made an effort to avoid them at all costs. A few minutes later Izuku had successfully entered the school and arrived in his seat without incident, he didn’t even have to hunt for his indoor shoes today. Overall he was starting to be optimistic that today was going to be a pretty good day.

* * *

As Izuku stared down at the gardening club's carp nibbling on his charred notebook he sighed to himself. 

“So much for optimism.” he thought.

Fishing his booklet out of the water he shook the water out of it glad that he had spent extra for the durable and waterproof version.

“Think before you speak idiot,” Izuku continued talking to himself, “if I did what you said then you would be prosecuted for bullying someone to suicide, then you could kiss your chances of being a hero goodbye.”

In his mind, he was going over the confrontation he had just gone through with his once friend, Katsuki Bakugou. It all stemmed from the fact that the teacher had told the class about his desire to try the UA entrance exam. Sera had tried her best to be there for Izuku but it had all happened so fast, Katsuki exploding his notebook and throwing it out the window. Burning his shoulder lightly by simmering the sweat in his palm then whispering his threatening words into Izuku’s ear. The thing that hurt worst of all was the extent that his friend had gone to. Sure Katsuki was often rough with him and he was no stranger to hearing the other boy demean him for never letting go of his dream, but this is the first time Katsuki had seemed to actually want Izuku to suffer lasting harm. Izuku sighed once more as he dwelled on the failed friendship he once had.

“You would never actually do it right?” Izuku heard Sera’s voice ask.

Izuku looked up and met her eyes and deep inside them he could see a small amount of fear. Feeling pain at seeing his friend hurting Izuku smiled in an attempt to relieve her mind.

“Of course not.” He said with as much bravado as he could muster, “I already told you that quirk or no I am definitely going to be a hero.”

Sera smiled at his words, her momentary doubt gone, “Yeah,” she said, “Besides you don’t need a dumb quirk, you have me to help you.”

“Yeah!” Izuku exclaimed in agreement as he walked out of the school gate, forcing out a bit of laughter. And so with his spirits forcibly lifted, he walked home. Sera floating along beside him talking about random things. Izuku had developed a habit of walking home using the least crowded route both to avoid bullies and to allow him to freely talk with his friend. As they walked through a pedestrian underpass, Sera was once again explaining how much she wished she could beat up Katsuki causing Izuku to chuckle at the thought. After all, a grain of salt was like the equivalent of an 8-pound bowling ball for her. Izuku was listening with half an ear as he re-read through the entries of his journal double-checking to see if any of the ink had been smudged by its time in the water when his thoughts were interrupted by a shout of,

“IZUKU LOOK OUT!”

Startled by Sera’s cry, he reacted too slowly to avoid the living wall of sludge that overtook him.

“Well, well, well,” an evil voice whispered in his ear, “Look what I found, a medium-sized body to hide in. You’re my hero kid.”

Izuku’s mouth and nose were flooded with a foul-smelling ooze. It forced its way down his esophagus and trachea and up into his sinuses filling him with the urge to sneeze, cough, and vomit all at once. His body could do none of these involuntary reactions because the living liquid just kept pushing in against any effort to expel it. Desperately his hands clawed at the substance, but they just passed through it. Sounds became muffled as the liquid started to fill his ears, causing them to pop painfully from their inability to regulate pressure. Within seconds Izuku was light-headed and his vision was starting to go black on the edges.

“Am I going to die?” his mind thought desperately “I don’t want to die. Please, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!”

His vision continued to slip away and the last thing he saw was Sera flitting around desperately, her face a mask of distress at her helplessness. Right as he began to lose consciousness he saw her eyes widen in surprise, and an unstoppable force seemed to rip the sludge right out of him. His nose, mouth, and ears were all suddenly clear and his body reflexively gulped in a breath. However, the trauma still left his consciousness waning and the last thing he heard as blackness overtook him was a deep comforting voice saying,

“It’s alright now, I am here.” 

* * *

Sensation returned slowly to Izuku, his mind muddled in a way it had never been before. He almost felt like he was floating but not on water, it was like he was on a sea of beads and for some reason, he couldn’t open his eyes. 

“What happened?” he thought, “I was walking home. Sera was talking about Kacchan then... a villain attacked, oh right!”

He became aware of a repeating pressure on his cheek and began to pull himself into wakefulness, as he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Seranota, but instead of the small pixie-like creature he was used to, she was full-sized and leaning over him her features clouded in worry. Then his eyes cleared and he realized that, no, she was just really close, floating over his face. His mind refocused on the pressure he felt on his cheek and he realized it was a hand. He followed the arm connected to it and eventually his vision cleared enough to recognize the other face before him. It was easy for him after all, it was one of the first faces he saw after waking up every morning.

“WHA?!” Izuku said unintelligibly.

All Might straightened up as Izuku shot into a sitting position handily avoiding an embarrassing collision between their foreheads.

“HA,” the hero laughed, “you are ok, excellent!”

Izuku watched in awe as the hero reached up and ran a hand through his hair in apparent relief.

“I am so sorry that you got involved in my battle with that villain. He was a slippery one and I lost him momentarily in the maze-like sewers beneath the city. Have no fear though because the villain... HAS BEEN CAPTURED!”

With his last exuberant claim, the hero showed off a pair of soda bottles that contained an opaque green goo with unfocused eyeballs floating around inside. If Izuku had been fully aware he probably would have found the sight disturbing, but he was still slightly groggy so all his attention was filled with the presence of his idol at the moment.

“Oh my gosh, All Might is really here. I have to get an autograph!” Izuku thought and began to search frantically for his notebook. Finding it nearby he opened to the next open page and found a large two-page scrawl with the autograph of his hero, “HE ALREADY DID IT!”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, All Might, this will be a treasure and I will always remember this day,” Izuku said standing and bowing to show his appreciation.

All Might smiled at the display and offered a salute as a “you’re welcome” before he turned and took a few steps.

“Well I better get this guy to the police.” the hero said, as he placed the bottles containing the villain into his pockets, “You will probably see me next on TV, until then.”

Izuku was shocked and disappointed at the sudden dismissal. He still wanted to ask the hero a few questions.

“Izuku, are you alright? I was so worried.” Izuku heard Sera say.

“I'm fine,” Izuku whispered distractedly, his focus still on the hero in front of him.

“Wait, please I have a…” Izuku said, but he was interrupted by the hero, who appeared to be limbering himself up.

“Sorry young man, but a hero battles time just as much as he does villains, so I’ve got to go.”

Unsatisfied Izuku made a desperate attempt to stop the man by grabbing his pant leg right as he launched himself into the air. Adrenaline flooded Izuku’s body at his sudden flight causing his hands and arms to lock around the hero’s leg. Izuku just barely missed Sera transforming into a ribbon of light and zipping off after All Might and his hanger-on.

As All Might flew through the air he noticed that his trajectory was off what he had originally planned, so he looked around and noticed the wildly flapping face of the boy he had just rescued.

“Whoa son,” he said, “I am fine with fans but this seems a little excessive.”

“Please land All Might.” the panicking boy pleaded.

“Listen boy, I don’t have time please let go.” and with that he started to give his leg a slight shake hoping to dislodge the fan from it, neither of them noticing the bottle getting dislodged from the movement.

“If I let go I’ll die.” The boy reasoned, holding on for dear life to the leg of his hero.

“Oh, I suppose you are right.” the hero admitted stopping his attempts to dislodge the boy. Angling his arms to take advantage of the wind currents that his velocity created to steer himself, All Might directed his flight to a nearby high-rise building.

When they approached All Might used some precise flicks of his fingers to lower their velocity to a survivable speed for a normal person before they crashed into the roof. Upon stopping the boy was finally dislodged and he rolled to a stop a few meters away. Izuku gulped down deep breaths of air trying to get his heart-rate under control, and his arms ached from how tightly they had been gripping the legs of his hero.

All Might, feeling a burning sensation building in his chest, began hurrying to the side of the building. Seeing that his hero was once again leaving Izuku gasped out,

“Please wait, I have a question for you.”

“NO, I WILL NOT WAIT,” was the hero’s sharp reply, “I do not have time, hopefully, we can get the people inside to let us down.”

Seeing that All Might was still somewhat ignoring him Izuku decided to go for broke and just as the most important question in his mind. As strong as his conviction may be Izuku still never felt that he had received a good answer to this question.

“Even without a quirk, can I become a hero?” Izuku said desperately.

All his life Izuku had either been scorned or laughed at because of this question. Everyone merely answered that of course he couldn’t but none of those answers seemed satisfactory. They were all emotional gut reactions to the thought of a powerless person trying to save people. Izuku hoped that All Might would understand that being a hero wasn’t all about power but about heart and a desire to help. He hoped that All Might would understand why he wanted to be a hero.

All Might on the other hand had frozen at the boy’s words. His mind immediately flashed to that morning so long ago when a tall muscular blond-haired boy had asked a very similar question to a hero he looked up to. He thought of that hero’s answer, how anyone could be a hero as long as they wore a smile in the face of adversity. 

He then flashed forward to the day that same smiling hero had died. Beaten and bloody because she no longer had the near-unstoppable strength that she had already passed on to him. Even with all her skill and training, without the power of One for All she had been like a child trying to fight a tiger in the face of that man’s seemingly limitless supply of quirks.

“Kid,” The hero said softly, “quirks are... BAAAH.”

Suddenly the smoldering pain in his chest exploded into a bonfire of agony. All Might nearly fell over as he clutched his chest fighting hopelessly to hold on to his transformation. The boy continued to talk but the hero’s mind was preoccupied with the suffering he felt until it became too much and he exploded in a cloud of steam and All Might felt himself deflating as the power of One for All slipped from his grasp.

Izuku was looking down as he gave his reasoning for the question he was in the middle of explaining about his past when he was interrupted by Sera

“IZUKU LOOK!” 

Remembering the last time Sera had screamed a warning like that Izuku immediately flinched and ducked down. After a moment of nothing happening, Izuku looked up at the spren and saw that she was pointing toward All Might. Following her finger, he looked ahead and was shocked by the appearance of a skeletal blond man where his hero had once stood.

“WHAAT!” Izuku screamed in surprise, “You deflated, wha-what is this, were you an imposter, a fake?”

The skeletal man stood staring at the boy before his face got serious. 

“I’m All Might,” he said as he opened his mouth to speak however, blood poured out of his mouth causing the boy to freak out even more in worry for the man’s health.

“Calm down,” the hero said, making the boy stop due to his authoritative voice, “listen I really am All Might. The form you saw was my hero form. It’s kind of similar to how people hold their stomachs in at the pool to appear more fit than they are.”

“That makes no sense at all,” Sera said at Izuku’s shoulder, but Izuku ignored her as he listened to his idol.

Sitting down by the edge of the roof All Might sighed when he finally had the weight taken off his tired legs.

“This is the real me kid, but don’t go writing about this on the internet.” Lifting his shirt All Might showed off a horrible scar that spanned his entire torso. “About 5 years ago a villain did this to me.”

Izuku recoiled at the wound. It was discolored with spots of red and purple appearing in a pattern similar to the brown spots on an overripe banana. The skin and muscle underneath were misshapen as though the ribs weren’t aligned correctly leaving it as a twisted mass of ill-healed flesh. The sight alone nearly made Izuku gag but the true horror came from thinking of who could have possibly injured the number one hero to this extent.

“My respiratory system was nearly destroyed and I have lost my entire stomach.” the hero continued explaining, “due to the subsequent surgeries and recovery my body has wasted away to the state that you see now.”

“Five years ago, was that from when you battled Toxic Chainsaw?” Izuku asked absently his encyclopedic knowledge of All Might’s battles supplying the information subconsciously.

“Wow, you’ve done your homework.” All Might said, impressed at the boy’s knowledge, “No, that lowlife couldn’t scratch me.” The man smirked confidently as he said this, the look appearing out of place on such a sickly face. “No, this fight was never made public. After all, a symbol of peace who saves everyone with a smile must never be daunted by evil.”

The man locked eyes with the youth as he spoke, his eyes showing a myriad of emotions: conviction, pain, sadness, and loss.

“I smile so that I can hide the tremendous pressure and pain I feel.”

Izuku’s entire worldview shook. He had always viewed All Might as an unstoppable force of positivity in the face of all evil. It turns out that is just what he wants the world to think. In truth, the man was just as overwhelmed as anyone would be and he forced himself to show the confidant and reliable visage that he was known for. Izuku sat silently as the hero continued.

“A pro should always be willing to risk his life for the people he is fighting for. Could you be a hero without power to back it up; sadly I don’t think so.”

The hero’s words crashed into Izuku like a physical force causing him to take a step back to stabilize himself. He had known that there was a chance for this outcome, but he had hoped this time would be different, that he would finally hear someone tell him what he always longed to hear. Instead, his fears were confirmed; no one would support his dream.

“Kid it is good to want to help others, and there are a ton of ways to do it. You could be a doctor, or a police officer, even though they aren’t as glamorous they are still honorable lines of work and provide vital service to the community.” Looking up All Might saw the downcast eyes of a boy whose dream had been crushed. He felt shame but forced himself to believe that he was saving the boy from a worse future. As he entered the building to leave, finding the roof access door to be unlocked from this side, he gave a few parting words in the hope it would help the boy.

“It’s not wrong to dream, but you have to be realistic, kid.”

As the door shut Izuku was frozen by his despair, all of the times he had been told to give up playing on repeat in his head. A dark depression more powerful than anything he felt before overcame him, all the negative experiences compounding until he was once again that little child sitting in front of a computer after his dreams had been destroyed by an apathetic doctor. Unbidden the words of his tormentors flashed in his mind

“Loser!”

“Quirkless!”

“Deku!”

“IZUKU!”

Suddenly Izuku was ripped from his downward spiral and looked ahead into the eyes of Seranota. They seemed to brim with sparkling unshed tears as she stared into his eyes.

“What does he know, Izuku?” She said doing her best to show the same lightheartedness they had in the tunnel before the attack, “Just because he’s the number one right now doesn’t mean he knows everything about being a hero. I still believe in you, your mom still believes in you.”

Izuku looked at her blankly as he processed what she said. She still believed in him. Yes, it was true that Sera had said that he would be a hero, but there was something too ephemeral about her for it to feel real, she could not affect the world around her in any significant way and nobody else could see her. A deep dark part of Izuku wondered sometimes if she was just a figment of his imagination. If perhaps he was as crazy as some claimed he was for still wanting to be a hero without a quirk. Even though she did say he could be a hero it just didn’t have the weight that he craved.

Izuku’s mind turned to his mother. Did she believe in him? Izuku loved his mother dearly, just as any son would love his mother. But whenever he would tell her his dream or talk about his future she would always smile and say “Ok Izuku.” He knew she accepted that he had the dream of being a hero but never once had she told him that she believed in him. He didn’t blame her, he knew how hard it must be for her that he wanted to join such a dangerous profession. It was enough that she didn’t try to stop him.

As well-meaning as Sera’s claim was, it wasn’t enough, the cloud over his mind stayed though it lifted enough for him to offer a weak smile to her in an attempt to alleviate the pain he saw in her eyes.

“Right,” he said unconvincingly, “you’re right, let’s go before Mom starts to worry.”

As Izuku made his way down the stairs of the building, the smile he had put on shrank more and more with each step until finally it was gone. Sera, instead of flitting around beside him like she usually did, sat on his shoulder, her hands gripping the fabric of his uniform as though she were trying to comfort him with her presence, he could barely feel her at all. When he had exited the building he looked for a street sign to find out where he was so that he could know the way home. A few blocks later he was walking on the other side of the street to the entrance to a local shopping center. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that a crowd had formed. Then he heard the muted boom of some kind of explosion. 

In his mind, he acknowledged that there must be some kind of hero fight going on, but he was apathetic to it after the conversation he just had. Unconsciously, however, driven by years of running to watch every hero fight he had the chance to see, his feet carried him across the street and through the crowd to the front. As he worked his way through the crowd he heard some of the things that the bystanders were muttering.

“He’s got some kid hostage.”

“The heroes are just standing there.”

“So much damage.”

Izuku let the comments wash over him without paying much attention. Eventually, he was at the front of the crowd and could see what was happening. 

It was him. The sludge villain that had attacked Izuku rampaged in the middle of the shopping district. Seeing it from the outside Izuku was horrified as he saw tendrils of green slime whip around wildly as the hostage he had, fought against him. Izuku grabbed his mouth to prevent himself from shouting in alarm.

“How is this happening? All Might caught him, how did he get free?” Izuku thought. Then he remembered he had latched onto the hero’s leg and All Might had tried to shake him loose. “That shaking must have dislodged the bottle.” Izuku realized, “This is all my fault.”

The cloud of depression he had been feeling came back just as heavily. 

“It’s just like they said, I am useless. Worse than useless I did this. Because of me, someone is going through the same thing I did and it has apparently been happening for a while.”

Izuku’s mind flashed back to the panic he had felt while being suffocated, of the feeling of helplessness and his desperate cries for help. He looked around the scene for the heroes. There was Kamui Wood but every time he tried to get close a flare-up of flames drove him back. There was Death Arms, but he was busy lifting rubble off of civilians, and as Izuku’s encyclopedia of quirk knowledge pulled up the man’s he realized that he wouldn't have the power necessary to save the hostage the way All Might had saved Izuku. Looking up he saw Mount Lady, the hero who he had seen debut just this morning. She was uselessly trying to force her way between two buildings to enter the shopping district, the space too small for her to move around effectively. Finally, Izuku saw Backdraft the firefighting hero valiantly keeping the chaos from spreading to surrounding areas. None of them were perfectly suited to the situation.

“Hey, I thought All Might was chasing this guy.” Izuku heard a voice say from behind himself.

“No way,” Another voice said. “He’s in town.”

“If he was chasing this guy then where is he?” A third asked.

“He’s not coming,” Izuku realized, “I made him lose the villain and I made him waste his time.”

In complete despair, Izuku looked back to the carnage in front of him and froze. He could see who the hostage was. He recognized the uniform. He recognized the hair and eyes, and he recognized the explosions. It was Kacchan. Izuku stared into the eyes of his tormentor and only saw one thing. A desperate cry for help.

Izuku moved. It wasn’t a conscious action, instead, it was the crystallization of all his years cultivating a singular desire; to save those in need. Sera followed streaking after Izuku as a ribbon of light. Voices behind Izuku called out saying that he was acting foolishly, that he should leave it to the heroes, but he couldn’t help it. Even after hearing All Might’s answer to the question, there was still one more person that Izuku needed to ask: himself. Bolting up to the villain, Izuku’s mind, overclocked on adrenaline in the dangerous situation, flashed through the entries in his journals. Inspired by the heroes around him, he landed on the entry for Kamui Wood. The hero’s ultimate attack, the preemptive lacquered chain prison, was a single target move that sealed the enemy’s movements by locking their joints and applying pressure to weak points. Looking at the enemy in front of him Izuku saw only one possible weak point, the eyes. Whipping around in a spin to dodge an incoming sludge tentacle Izuku slid the straps of his backpack down his arms and flung it at the face of the sludge villain. One of the zippers was loose enough that mid-flight it opened spilling out books and pencils on impact one of which luckily hit the boy’s target.

The sludge villain roared in pain and reared back reflexively. This gave Izuku the opening he needed to slip low underneath the wildly waving attacks of the sludge villain and arrive at Katsuki. Upon arriving at the other boy he grabbed his shoulder to steady himself and looked at the sludge gathered around his face. Thinking back to his previous attempts to escape from the sludge villain he remembered the futility of trying to claw away at a liquid. Instead, he cupped his hand and pushed, scooping a portion of the sludge away from Katsuki’s mouth like he was trying to swim through it. Apparently, the other boy had been able to hold his mouth shut or his thrashing had prevented the villain from penetrating too deeply because as soon as the sludge was out of the way Katsuki was able to open his mouth and cough up enough sludge to get a breath.

“DEKU?!” Katsuki yelled, “What are you doing here.”

“I don’t know!” Izuku yelled in reply, a shaky smile working its way to his face, “You looked like you needed saving and my legs moved on their own.”

The villain regained control of itself because with a sudden wave of sludge Izuku was pushed back from the captive boy. Tumbling back from the captive boy Izuku eventually rolled back to his feet and looked back to see an enraged mass of green liquid staring menacingly at him.

“YOU!” the villain roared in a murderous rage, “I’LL KILL YOU FOR SURE THIS TIME.”

It seemed like countless attacks came flying at Izuku in the form of fast-moving tentacles of living liquid. By some near-impossible feat of hysterical strength, Izuku was able to move fast enough to dodge. He vaulted to the side over the first. Clumsily scrambling to his feet he sidestepped a stream shot at him with the force of a firehose. In the periphery of his vision, he saw a water whip coming for his head and leaned back limboing just barely underneath. Doing so allowed him to see a column of slime descending on him like the hammer of an angry god. He desperately lunged back giving him some extra space and breathing room. The villain stared at him aghast as though he couldn’t believe that Izuku had dodged all of those attacks. Izuku couldn’t blame him because he honestly couldn’t believe it either. Dodging one more stream of liquid, Izuku spotted a respite behind a pile of rubble nearby. He scrambled behind it right as another water whip struck the side of the rock pile with enough force to send up chips that stung as they peppered Izuku’s side.

Suddenly, Sera was in front of him. “Izuku,” she said, “I have been trying to adhere him to slow him down, but I am just too weak. I am sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Izuku gasped out. “This is already going way better than I thought it would, maybe if we stall long enough a hero will come who can help.”

Sera’s face became serious. “Izuku, I can’t help you like this, but there may be a way. I don’t know if it will work in this world, but maybe if you say the words I can give you some power.”

Izuku looked at her in puzzlement. “What words?” he asked. 

“The oaths, Izuku, listen closely and you should hear them if it is possible.”

“FOUND YOU.” The voice of the villain said from above Izuku’s head. Looking up Izuku was filled with fear as he saw the form of the sludge villain looming over him. Katsuki had been recaptured and his mouth was once again covered, his eyes filled with a mix of anger and fear. Part of Izuku wondered if the reason he hadn’t been attacked yet was because the villain had been focused on recapturing the explosive boy, but he supposed it didn’t matter as he saw the sludge move Katsuki’s hand so that it pointed directly at Izuku. The boy’s eyes filled with despair as his palm started to glow slightly, a large explosion building up. 

“SAY THE WORDS, IZUKU,” Sera’s voice seemed to yell in his mind.

Opening his mouth Izuku tried to listen as directed and somewhere deep inside of him, the same part of himself that had seemingly been touched on the first day that he met Sera, started to vibrate. Right as he was about to let words he could just barely hear spill from his mouth; the world froze.

A power Izuku had never felt before washed over the area. Izuku blinked and looked around. The fire was still. Smoke hung motionless as it billowed from the surrounding buildings. The crowd was silent, their faces frozen in shouts of alarm. The explosion building from Katsuki’s hand was still moving but it was growing at a fraction of a snail’s pace. Izuku didn’t understand so he looked at Sera and saw that she was still moving just as he was.

“Wha-what’s going on?” Izuku asked.

Seemingly in answer to his question, he heard a voice behind him,

“Ah, so that’s what I have been feeling these last few years.” It said.

Turning around Izuku was floored by what he saw. It was a woman, and she was shining. She was the most beautiful woman Izuku had ever seen, not because of her features, even though they were definitely beautiful, but because of the aura she gave off. She seemed to glow with a warm yellow light, like the sun on the most perfect summer’s day. She walked forward and Izuku saw she was wearing robes of some sort. It wasn’t a kimono or anything else that followed a Japanese aesthetic, instead, the design somehow gave off a more ancient feel like something royalty would wear in a far-off land that had long been forgotten. When she reached Izuku and Sera he got a full look at her features. Her race was ambiguous, not containing any singularly defining features. Her face was symmetrical with a stately brow and sharp features that still held obvious femininity. Her eyes were black, though they weren’t cold, they were like sparking chips of obsidian and seemed to contain wisdom beyond mortal comprehension. Finally, her hair was yellow, though Izuku was unsure whether that was actually its color or if that was just caused by her overwhelming aura. Seeing her up close Izuku asked the only question that was still in his head, all other thoughts having been chased away by the appearance of the transcendent being before him.

“Are you god?” 

The woman smiled at him with the long-suffering smile of a parent when their child asks them a question about a basic piece of everyday life. 

“After a fashion,” the woman answered, “I did not create this world but I now watch over and care for it. I am Valor”

Izuku was shocked by how she said her name. It wasn’t just the word valor, when she said it his mind was inundated with images of soldiers and battlefields, of the weak rising up to face the strong, of normal men being elevated by the need to stand for something greater. She wasn’t just called valor, she embodied the very concept of valor. 

“Now, back to the matter at hand.” As she said this her focus shifted from Izuku to the space just above his right shoulder. Following her glance, Izuku was surprised to find Sera hiding there peeking over his shoulder.

“How did you get here sliver of Honor?” The divine woman asked

Sera floated around Izuku until she was in front of him, her head hung in subservience.

“I am not sure, milady.” Sera admitted, “Much of my memory is fuzzy from before I began bonding with Izuku.” 

“Hmm,” Valor hummed at the response, “I see, I am actually very surprised that you had enough power left to manifest as you have after your bond with young Izuku here matured.”

“Ma’am,” Izuku interrupted shyly, “I am sorry to interrupt, and I am grateful that you helped us in our hour of need, but why are you here?” Normally Izuku wouldn’t have imagined intruding on someone’s conversation but seeing the posture of Sera and remembering that when she had first started talking she had called herself a sliver of divinity, Izuku began to worry that his friend was in trouble for some reason. So he wanted to know if there was any way he could help.

Valor smiled at the boy's bravery for injecting himself into the conversation and continued to speak.

“I am here because I felt that you were about to attempt to formalize the Nahel bond between yourself and this piece of honor, and I wanted to step in so that you would understand what would happen if you do.”

Izuku’s mind jumped on the unfamiliar terms that had been used but filed them away for later and focused on Valor’s explanation.

“If you had said the words when you did then yes you would have received a burst of power and perhaps you may have been able to defeat this foe, but it would be at the cost of your companion’s life.”

Izuku’s eyes shot open and he looked at Sera. Her face, instead of showing shock to match Izuku’s, showed shame at the truth coming out.

“You knew?” Izuku asked, seeing the spren’s reaction.

“Yes,” Sera admitted sadly, “it was the only way I could see us getting out of this alive. I wasn’t sure if it would actually kill me or if maybe there would be enough of me left to stay around as the same ball of lite that I was when you first met me.”

“You see young one,” Valor said, picking up the explanation, “normally those who make bonds like this power themselves with the light of Honor. Since there is no way to get his light here if you were to try to draw power from the bond the only source would be the body of your friend. She would burn up like coal in a fire leaving only ash behind.”

Bowing to Valor Izuku immediately cried out, 

“Thank you for stopping us. I don’t know what I would do without Sera by my side.” 

He really wouldn’t, one of the only things helping him through all the pain he faced in life was Sera. She was his only friend and without her, he was sure that the sadness he felt on his bad days would never go away. She had been with him for so long that the thought of living without her by his side was too painful to bear.

Straightening up, Izuku saw that Valor was smiling at the display of gratitude. 

“Now with things as they are you have two options. I could resume time and give you this one chance to escape your current unwinnable situation then it would be up to you to continue surviving and you can see what might happen.”

Izuku began to sweat at the thought. He was on his last leg. He had only survived this long due to blind luck. He had no idea what more he could do and Katsuki was still trapped.

“Or,” Valor continued, “I can see if it would be possible to help you form the bond in a way that would leave you both unharmed.”

Izuku and Sera both stared at Valor wide-eyed then looked at each other. Sera’s face split into a grin. 

“This is it Izuku,” She said, “This could be our shot. Just like we dreamed, you and me together, we could be heroes.”

Her cheer was infectious. Izuku felt a smile creep onto his own face, but something stopped him. Izuku gathered that if he were to create this bond with Sera it would lead to him gaining some form of power and with that power and Sera by his side he did not doubt that they would be heroes. But he still hadn’t received a satisfactory answer to the question.

“Valor, again thank you for your offer to help but before I make my choice may I ask you a question?” 

“Of course,” Valor said, a knowing look entering her eyes.

“Do you think a person like me now, without any powers can become a hero who can rescue people with a smile, like All Might?” Izuku asked.

Valor looked at the boy for a moment before she spoke.

“Child, look around you and what do you see.”

Izuku looked at the scene around him, he saw the rubble, the burning buildings, the crowd, but then he noticed something, in front of the crowd looking on like they were bystanders themselves where all the heroes he had noticed on the scene: Death Arms, Mount Lady, Kamui Wood, and Back Draft. Every single one of them was just watching the conflict, staring as Izuku had risked his life to save his childhood tormentor.

“Every single one of the heroes here, when faced with a situation that didn’t favor them, one where they would be in real danger of injury or even death, when their victory wasn’t sure they faltered. They sat and waited for someone else to come along and fight for them. You, however, you ran in with nothing but your mind and body. You ran into the mouth of a lion without a single thought for the danger ahead of you.”

Izuku heard her words and began to feel hope in his chest at the direction she was taking.

“With a heart like yours Izuku, I don’t doubt that you could become a hero even without powers as others have.”

“Finally,” Izuku thought, “finally someone else believes in me.”

“But,” Valor continued, halting the joy Izuku had felt building in his chest, “your time as a hero would be very short-lived. As I said Izuku you are willing to charge into the lion’s mouth to save the lambs it endangers but you are charging in with nothing but your bare hands where everyone else is charging with a sword. You would be a hero, you would save people but at some point, you would face a foe that would be truly impossible for you to beat. I don’t doubt you would try, but you would fail.”

Izuku was uncertain how to feel. At last, he had an answer and there was a part of him that, upon hearing the words, knew that they were undoubtedly true. He may try to rationalize that he would try to make up the difference with support gear or skill. But in the end, what Valor said was true. Without powers, there would come a day when Izuku would face a foe that would be impossible for him to beat, and he knew that his desire to save others would be unable to stop himself from fighting anyway, and he would die.

“Don’t despair Izuku, as I said without the power you could become a hero, maybe even a great hero. But with them, you can become something more. A symbol, with the powers of the bond you will be a shining beacon of hope and when people look up at your arrival they will know that they are safe.”

Izuku looked back to Valor as she spoke. In his mind’s eye, he could see it. The image of himself shining as a light pushing back the darkness in people’s hearts and saving them. His eyes met Sera’s and he could see her eagerness. She was there for him as always. He could see in her as well a mirror to his desire. There was a reason she always included herself when she described his future dream of being a hero, just like him she wanted to save people. They were a matched set and it decisively clicked in his mind; Izuku could never truly be a hero without his partner by his side. Meeting Valor’s eyes Izuku smiled brightly.

“Thank you, for your answer. I’ve been waiting my whole life for it.”

Valor smiled and slightly bowed her head in acceptance of his thanks.

“Now,” Izuku said, “how do we make this bond work?”

Sera squealed in excitement and floated over to Izuku again.

“Good,” Valor said, “You have made your choice. In order to make the bond, I will need to alter you slightly. Do not fear I will not change your soul but I will change your body so that you can power the bond’s abilities through alternate means just as I altered the first quirk users when I gave them the power they would need to face this world's battles.”

Izuku tried not to be distracted by the fact that he had just learned the secret of where quirks came from and focused on what Valor was saying about the bond.

“I won’t give you all the details of how the bond works that will be for you and your companion to discover as your bond grows stronger. It will be up to you Izuku to live your life worthy of the oaths you take as your powers grow. Now to start the process, all you must do is say the words. I know that you already know the first ideal.”

Izuku nodded the words appearing again in his mind.

“Good, one final thing. Izuku. By accepting this power you will be embarking on a set path. You are not allowed to accept any other forms of power if you embark on it. Do you still wish to continue?”

Izuku paused at that briefly wondering what else Valor could be talking about, but one look at Sera reaffirmed in his mind that this was the bath he should take.

“Yes Valor, I am sure.”

“Then stand back where you were when I first appeared.” Valor ordered.

Walking back Izuku took stock of what he would be fighting when time started again. The slime villain still loomed above where he stood. Katsuki’s eyes still held despair as his quirk was activated against his will. The explosion in his palm was just barely starting to bloom outward showing just how little real-time had passed during Valor’s visit.

“Now Izuku,” Valor said from behind Izuku’s position, “It is time I send you out to battle once more. Now you will be armed. Face all your enemies with courage and strength, and never falter no matter the obstacle you face.”

With that Valor fell silent. Then after a moment Izuku once more heard Sera’s voice.

“Say the words Izuku.” This time her voice was calm and resolute instead of panicked as it had been before.

Taking a deep breath Izuku spoke as clearly as he could.

“Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.”

As soon as the last syllable left his mouth Izuku’s world was engulfed in flames.

* * *

To the spectators at the shopping district, this was one of the weirdest hero fights they had ever seen. The villain had suddenly appeared with a junior high student as a hostage, but he was almost instantly surrounded by many well-known heroes. However, thanks to the hostage seemingly randomly letting off explosions from his quirk many of the heroes were forced to stay back. Then another student ran into the fray ignoring all of the shouted warnings telling him not to.

They had watched with bated breath as the young lad had run into danger, appearing braver than any of the present heroes. Gasps were heard as the teen narrowly dodged the attacks of the villain. Many were wondering if the teen had some kind of reflex enhancing quirk because nothing else the teen had done was obviously the result of a special power. Finally, the kid had been cornered behind a piece of rubble and now the crowd watched in shock and horror as the villain forced his hostage to release an enormous blast directly at the brave lad.

Nearly the whole crowd looked away as the blast went off, unwilling to watch as a child was murdered in front of their very eyes. The news reporters on site issued warnings for their viewers. When the blast subsided and there was only smoke. A cry of surprise erupted from the crowd. Everyone else looked back to the battlefield wondering what they would find. Shocked gasps could be heard all around as there, standing in the smoke, was the boy, and he was glowing.

White light billowed off him like luminous mist. Every breath he took puffed out as though it were a cold day and hung for a moment glowing in the air. He opened his eyes and they shone with a captivating inner light blazing like two green suns inlaid into his glowing visage. Looking up at the villain before him the boy smiled, his grin fierce and shining just as brightly as the rest of him. Then he moved.

He had been blown back by the blast so he was now a good 15 meters away from the villain. He sprinted covering the distance at a shocking pace. The villain seeing his approach attacked again using his liquid tendrils as whips. This time he swung two at once, one aiming high to hit the boy in the head, the other aimed low in an attempt to sweep the boy's legs out from under him. Again the boy dodged, though this time none of the frantic clumsiness from before could be found in his movements. As the two attacks approached, the shining boy dove, twisting in mid-air so that the two attacks past harmlessly above and below him. He landed already running to finish closing the gap between himself and the villain.

The crowd cheered. They couldn’t help it. Deep inside themselves, they felt a relief where before there had been deep anxiety. Everything about the boy in front of them, his willingness to run into danger, his desperate fighting, and now his sudden explosion into amazing power told the crowd one thing. A hero had come.

* * *

Izuku was ecstatic. Every inch, no every cell of his body was infused with light. He was filled with POWER. It felt like he would never again have to feel helpless in the face of adversity, now Izuku could finally be the hero he had always dreamed of. He felt like he had the strength of ten men, and that he was light enough to float on the wind. Faster than he thought possible he was, once again, face to face with the villain. His mind sped up to the point that he was able to plan and act in the space of an instant. 

Leaping up Izuku placed one hand on Katsuki’s shoulder and the other on the face of the villain. Izuku may not know everything about the bond but there was one power that Sera had always been more than happy to show off to Izuku. Pushing a portion of the light he felt inside of himself into Katsuki, Izuku stuck the explosive teen to the ground he was standing on. Then through the other hand that he had placed on the face of the villain, Izuku pushed light into the villain until he had infused every piece of him. That done Izuku made the villain adhere not to anything else but he made each molecule of liquid adhere to each other. It wasn't the same as freezing the villain because he didn’t become solid, but now he would hold together enough that Izuku could grab a handful of his gelatinous mass and it didn’t squeeze through his fingers. Planting his own feet again Izuku grabbed the villain with both hands and pulled with all his might ripping the sludge villain off of Katsuki completely and throwing him away causing the villain to crash down far away from the former hostage. Izuku had done it, Katsuki was safe.

Izuku turned back to Katsuki and smiled. Katsuki just stared back at Izuku dumbfounded, his eyes widened by his disbelief. To be honest, Izuku was amused at this response to his sudden show of power so he opened his mouth to make a quip when suddenly he felt the power slipping from his grasp. The light wafting from his skin blinked out and the surge of power Izuku had been feeling was replaced by a sudden and ravenous hunger. Izuku’s stomach growled and he felt weak in the knees. He reflexively reached out and grabbed Katsuki in order to keep himself from collapsing at his sudden weakness. Katsuki was about to shove the other boy off of himself when his eyes widened at the sight of something behind Izuku.

“I don’t know where that power was the last time I tried to kill you, but it wasn’t enough you little brat.” The sludge villain said as it rose out of the dust cloud it had caused upon landing after Izuku’s throw. With Izuku’s powers now gone the effects of his adherence on the villain were canceled giving him full control of his liquid body again and letting him send out more whip-like attacks. Before the attacks could land or either boy could even react an obstacle appeared between the boys and the villain in the form of a 7’2” mountain of muscle.

“Look at me not practicing what I preach eh?” the voice of All Might said, “Both of you boys made an excellent showing today, I am sure your careers as heroes will be impressive. Now let a real pro show you how to finish a job. DETROIT SMASH!”

With that single almighty smash, the battle was over. The villain was collected and taken into custody. Katsuki was praised for his tenacity and bravery for resisting the villain in the way that he had. Izuku was scolded harshly by the heroes on the scene for rushing in and for apparent vigilantism at his use of a quirk. In the end, though, he was released with no charges filed and a warning to only use his quirk in such a way again after he had received his pro license.

A few hours later and Izuku was once again making his way home. Izuku had been lucky enough that one of the ambulances on-site stocked some granola bars to help with treating someone with a blood sugar imbalance. Izuku had told them he was light-headed and one of the EMTs gladly gave him a bar to eat. It had helped but Izuku could hardly wait to get home to eat his mother’s cooking. 

As he walked he thought fondly about the passenger he currently had on his head. Sera was completely wiped out from the stress of formulating the bond. She had assured Izuku that this wouldn’t happen every time he used his powers but it was needed this time due to the strange nature of the bond. Either way, Izuku was just happy that they had both made it out of the situation unharmed.

Katsuki had still been getting looked over when Izuku left. As much as he disliked the other boy for his cruelty and overinflated ego Izuku didn’t want to see him hurt so he was glad he was being taken care of. Izuku idly wondered how Katsuki would react now that Izuku had powers as well. He chuckled as he thought back to the look of disbelief on the other boy's face when he had pulled the slime villain off of him. Smiling ruefully Izuku thought to himself,

“Knowing Kacchan he will probably take the fact that I have powers as a personal insult against himself.”

As Izuku kept walking his mind finally got around to thinking of how the battle had concluded. All Might had reappeared and with a single punch ended the conflict, settled the fears of the citizens, and even changed the weather for a short time. Izuku found it awe-inspiring even after his less than ideal meeting with his idol. As he thought about the man’s answer to his question, however, Izuku couldn’t fault the hero for saying what he had. As Valor had explained, maybe without powers Izuku could have been a hero but it would have ultimately led to his death. All Might had just been trying to protect Izuku by pointing him down a safer path.

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to him again before he got swarmed by reporters.” Izuku thought to himself, “I guess I will have to send him a thank you message through his website.”

“I AM HERE!”

Suddenly the subject of his thoughts appeared in front of him skidding to a stop in a heroic pose.

“ALL MIGHT!” Izuku shouted in surprise, “How are you here, you were swarmed by reporters.”

“HAHA, shaking them off was nothing for me. I am All Migh- Bleugh!” All Might’s words were abruptly cut off by a bloody cough as he deflated instantly into his true skeletal form.

Izuku immediately began to fret about the man’s health but All Might waved off his worries.

“Forget about me boy, I chased you down for a reason,” the hero said to the confused Izuku, “First, I have a question for you young man. What was all that talk about being quirkless on the roof?” All Might asked, “Were you asking me for someone else perhaps?”

Izuku was caught flat-footed by the question. How much should he explain? How much could he explain? Izuku had, by some twisted chance, learned more about how quirks and the world worked than any other man alive. How does he explain what happened with Valor to anyone? Faced with that question, Izuku decided he only had one option, come up with some BS to cover it up.

“N-no All Might Sir, as hard as it may be to believe when we were on the rooftop I truly thought I was quirkless but somehow in the middle of the battle, I felt something change in me and now I guess, somehow I have a quirk.” Internally, Izuku was ashamed of himself. Who would possibly believe a ridiculous story like that?

“Ah, I see. That makes sense.” All Might said in response.

Izuku was shocked. “Wait, that worked?” He thought to himself

Seeing the incredulous look on the boy's face the hero explained himself.

“Son, I have been in the hero business for a long time and have seen things with quirks that would baffle the mind of any scientist out there. Part of me sometimes thinks that quirks must be part of something far greater than we humans can fully understand, so your story of how in your greatest hour of need you were able to tap into some previously unknown well of power, it just feels right to me.” The hero said.

“Now the other reason I chased you down was so that I could amend the answer I gave to you on the roof today. Up there I told you that I didn’t believe that you could be a hero. I was wrong to say that. As I watched what happened on that street I was filled with shame. That shopping district was filled with heroes today and none of them showed true heroism the way you did. While we all thought about how hopeless the situation was, you acted. You a boy who grew up with no powers but holding on to a desire to save others rushed into an impossible situation and pulled from it the best possible outcome. Today you reminded me what it truly means to be a Hero.”

Izuku was shocked at his idol’s words. He wasn’t overwhelmed as he might have been if he hadn’t heard the answer from Valor but to hear this man acknowledge him was no small thing for the young man.

“Kid, I want to set the record straight. Even if you hadn’t awakened any kind of power, I truly believe that you can become a hero.”

Izuku’s heart filled with joy. He had already heard someone else say it but to hear it again, to have the statement reaffirmed made it all seem so much more real. His path was now truly fixed. Izuku Midoriya was resolved to tirelessly walk the path that would lead to him being the greatest hero he could be.

“And, given the potential I saw in you today, I believe you are worthy of inheriting my power.”

Izuku’s mind screeched to a halt.

“Huh?” Izuku said in puzzlement at the statement.

“What’s that look for my boy?” the hero in front of Izuku asked, “This has to do with my quirk, I am asking if you would like to try inheriting my power?”

Izuku’s mind flashed back to his time with that divine being, to the last thing she said before he forged his bond with Sera.

“By accepting this power you will be embarking on a set path. You are not allowed to accept any other forms of power if you embark on it.”

“She knew,” Izuku thought, “She knew that this would be an option for me if I didn’t form the bond.”

Uncertainty briefly flashed through Izuku’s heart and he looked up and saw Sera. She was floating weakly in the air now having left the perch she had taken on his head. Her face seemed to mirror the uncertainty Izuku felt. But then he thought of what he had learned when Valor first appeared. Sera had been willing to sacrifice her entire being to give Izuku the power he needed to survive and save Katsuki. Could he ask for a better partner than her to accompany him on the heroic path he walked? Feeling his decision reaffirmed he gave Sera a warm smile before turning back to All Might.

“All Might, as wonderful as your offer is, I am sorry to say that I cannot accept.” As he said this Izuku bowed in an apology. “I have looked up to you for as long as I can remember, but when I got my power today I felt like I had embarked on a path, and unfortunately I can’t leave that path to inherit yours as much as it pains me to say it.”

Straightening up, Izuku met the eyes of his Idol and was surprised to see acceptance in his gaze.

“I had a feeling you would say that young man.” All Might said. “When I saw you out there when you first unlocked your power as you shone like a newborn star. Something in my heart knew that I had missed a golden opportunity. Regardless I know that you will be a great hero, perhaps even greater than myself.”

All Might extended out his hand, and Izuku after a moment extended his own and the two heroes grasp each other’s hands as a sign of mutual respect.

“Farewell boy, I pray that our paths cross again someday so that I can see the sort of hero you become. I am sure it will be spectacular.”

“Thank you for everything, All Might”

And with that the two men left walking away from each other with their heads held high, Izuku taking the next step on the path he started by saying the first ideal, and All Might stepping with reinvigorated steps on the well-worn path of heroism.

* * *

Valor watched this happen invisibly, her consciousness expanded to the point that it covered the globe. If she still had a mouth she would have smiled at the inspirational scene given by the two heroes. A part of her was sad that she wouldn’t get to see what the boy made of himself with All Might’s power, but when she had felt the sliver of Honor she knew she had to intervene. 

Tanavast had been a dear friend to her, and she had been greatly saddened by his passing. The thought of the sliver of his power burning up like a firework instead of shining endlessly had been too painful for her to just sit back and not intervene. Now the bond was stabilized and supported through her own power. The one downside was that she wasn’t sure how the introduction of her power into the system of the Nahel bond may change it. Only time will tell. Valor couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement as she thought about how the boy would use his power in the battles that awaited him.

“Show me how you will shape the world, Hero of Honor.”


	2. Chapter 2

As Izuku climbed the stairs that led to his apartment, he couldn’t help but grimace at the gnawing pain he felt in his stomach. 

“Why am I so hungry?” He asked, “I didn’t think I had that small of a lunch.”

“It probably has something to do with what Valor did to make the bond work.” Sera said, “When you were using the light it felt different than normal.”

Izuku paused and looked askance at her.

“What do you mean? Have you done this before?”

For all the time Izuku had known the small being he had assumed that she was young. She would constantly be in motion observing the world around her and looking with intense interest at the people she came into contact with. All of that, along with her bright bubbly personality, seemed distinctly childlike to him. Her comment just now, however, sounded like she had bonded with someone else before. He couldn’t help feel a slight twinge of jealousy but that quickly left and was replaced by interest. 

“Um.” the spren said, a finger touching her chin as she thought, “I think maybe? You have to understand that when spren like me come into the physical realm from the cognitive realm without a bond we start to lose our ability to think and remember. That was what I was like when I found you, but after we started to bond, I began to find myself again. It took a while because this isn’t my original world, that is why I was with you for years before I could speak to you.”

Izuku’s mind raced with the information she had shared. Cognitive realm? What’s that? Putting those thoughts aside until he had the chance to write about them, Izuku focused in on something else her commentary had implied.

“Sera, how old are you?” Izuku asked.

The spren’s face took on a shocked expression. 

“Izuku, how dare you. I would think you knew better than to ask such a question of a lady,” she said before folding her arms and turning her back to the boy.

Izuku, of course, began to sputter and apologize, his face going red. But his usual flustered reaction was interrupted by a loud growling from his stomach which made the boy curl in on himself in pain.

“So hungry,” he said with a miserable expression.

The spren turned back to her bondmate with worry on her face.

“We need to get you home so that you can eat.” she said, “As I mentioned, I think Valor somehow changed you so that you can produce investiture by burning food or something.”

“Ok,” Izuku said weakly and finished his trek up the steps to his front door.

He reached into his pocket for his key but as he fished around for it the door flew open to reveal the teary-eyed face of his mother.

“I-I-IZUKU!” as she cried out his name Inko lunged forward and grabbed her son around the neck, dragging the boy into a desperate embrace.

“Izuku, you were on the news. They were talking about a villain and a hostage and you were there and you were getting attacked and you started glowing and I was so worried I didn’t know what to do... “ as Inko spoke and cried her words devolved into unintelligible wet blubberings.

When Izuku felt his mother’s tears on his shoulder he knew he had to do something so he wrapped his own arms around her and hugged back saying into her ear,

“I’m ok mom, I’m safe at home.”

* * *

Inko had been planning out tonight’s dinner and wondering when she would need to go shopping next when the show she had turned on for background noise had switched to a news bulletin. There was apparently a villain attack in a shopping center a few minutes’ walk from her building. She shuddered slightly at the thought of a villain so close to her home but she trusted the heroes and police to resolve the issue. She froze however when she had heard the newscaster mention a young man had been captured. 

It was a common fear for parents in the modern era of heroes and villains. Just as with car accidents, when you hear that a child the age of your own is involved, you can’t help asking the question, is it them, and dread that the answer will be yes. Her eyes glued to the screen watching apprehensively for any sign of who the hostage was. When the news mentioned something about issues from the hostage’s quirk she had breathed a sigh of relief, but then she noticed the explosions on-screen and saw flashes of spiky blond hair. Inko ran to her phone and quickly searched her contacts.

When Izuku had been younger Inko had come to know the Bakugous well, often spending time talking with Mitsuki while the children played nearby. When they had moved away to a bigger house their meetings had lessened, but the boys had still been friends so they saw each other regularly. Then the boy’s relationship had soured causing them to lose touch further. Now, Inko only ever saw Mitsuki at school events, but they kept each other’s contact information just in case.

The phone was answered on the second ring.

“Inko?” the woman’s voice said in slight confusion, “Hi, this is a pleasant surpri-”

“Turn on the news,” Inko interrupted.

“Huh?” there were slight sounds as the other woman seemed to stand up, then Inko heard quiet voices as the TV turned on, “I am not sure why you would want...me....to…” the woman trailed off, “oh my god.” 

Inko listened as the other women tried to deny what she was seeing,

“No, no, no, no, no, no, he’ll be fine, he is strong, he is always saying he will be the strongest, he... What?”

When she heard the other woman’s confusion Inko rushed back to the screen to see what was happening. It took a while, but eventually, she recognized the green-haired boy running straight for the villain. The phone slipped from her numb fingers and fell to the ground, the jolt causing the device to shut off. She watched in stunned silence as her son frantically dodged the attacks of the villain. Fear gripped her heart when the palm of the Katsuki was leveled at her Izuku and a scream tore from her throat at the enormous explosion that covered where the boy stood. Her eyes filled with tears as despair filled her chest. She stared at the dust cloud on screen, her mind unable to process what she was seeing. Her son, dead at the hands of a villain just as she had feared deep down from the moment she researched quirkless heroes. A hand reached out to the screen unconsciously, as though she was trying to reach through the television to pull her baby to safety. As she continued to watch, however, her eyes widened in shock. The cloud of smoke and dust blew away and there was her boy, standing resolute, and he was shining. 

Dumbfounded, she stared as Izuku flew at the villain and seemed to effortlessly pull the liquid mass of evil off of the other boy and throw it away. As he stood victorious next to the rescued hostage, a new feeling bubbled up in the mother’s heart. She had gone through such a rollercoaster of emotion that she couldn’t place it but it felt bright and warm, like the light rolling off of Izuku. Suddenly, the light around her son winked out, and the villain lashed out once more. The appearance of All Might ended the issue, and the rest of the bulletin focused on the last-minute appearance of the number one hero. 

Inko stood still for a moment after everything ended unsure of how to feel. She was emotionally exhausted from the whole situation, so her body seemed to go on auto-pilot as she picked up where she left off preparing for dinner. She was woken from her trance, however, by the muffled sound of a voice outside the door and what sounded like the jingle of keys. Moving with a speed that didn’t fully match her stocky frame, Inko bolted to the door and threw it open. At the sight of her son, she clamped her arms around his neck and blabbered out what she had seen before devolving into sobs until he reassured her that he was safe. Inko began to calm down at his words, her sobs turning into deep breaths as her tears slowed. She continued to hold her son, reassuring herself that he was indeed back home and well. 

They stood there for a moment just holding each other until it was ruined by a loud growl from Izuku’s stomach. Inko immediately held her son out at arm’s length and stared with wide eyes.

“My word Izuku, did you skip lunch?” she asked.

Izuku bashfully rubbed the back of his head as he replied.

“No, but I am really hungry. Is dinner ready by any chance?”

Inko dutifully marched her son into the house and sat him at the table determined to fulfill her sacred motherly duty of making sure her son was well fed. Walking to the fridge she grabbed a plate of leftovers from the night before and placed them in front of him as she went into the kitchen to finish preparing tonight’s dinner. When she looked back into the dining area she was shocked by what she saw.

Izuku had never been a very big eater. Yes, he had a healthy appetite, but he ate at a slow pace and was normally done after a single serving. His eating habits were evidenced by the boy’s skinny frame that was quite reminiscent of his father when he had been Izuku’s age. Now, however, Inko watched as her son voraciously consumed everything on the plate she had placed in front of him. He almost didn’t seem to be chewing as the food disappeared down his throat. Looking up to meet his mother’s eyes Izuku blushed and stopped eating.

“A-are you still going to be hungry honey?” Inko asked

As if in answer, Izuku’s stomach grumbled once more causing the boy to blush harder in embarrassment.

“Yes,” he said quietly.

“Ok,” Inko replied and turned back to finish her cooking. A few minutes later she walked to the table carrying a platter with chicken and vegetable stir-fry. She then went back and grabbed the rice cooker to bring it to the table and by the time she had arrived Izuku was already serving himself some of the food onto the plate that he had emptied. Inko served a bowl of rice and offered it to him which he accepted with a thank you. Izuku then sat and waited until she had served herself before saying a quick ‘itadakimasu’ and digging in, though at a pace that was much closer to his regular one.

“Izuku, is everything alright?” Inko asked.

“O-of c-c-c-course,” Izuku responded nervously, “why do you ask?”

Inko gave him a flat look before continuing, “Because you have already eaten more than you normally do, then you served yourself a serving twice as large as I would expect, and you haven’t even stopped eating during our conversation.”

Izuku’s chopstick froze halfway to his mouth, and he looked chagrined. His eyes darted around like he was looking for a way to change the topic but eventually, he sighed and looked at her.

“Mom I am not sure how to explain this really,” He began to speak but he was cut off by the sudden appearance of a small blue girl that glowed slightly appearing in the air between them.

“Then let me take over Izuku,” the small figure said brightly, “Hi Mama Midoriya, I am Sera and I am Izuku’s quirk freshly activated today.”

Inko sat frozen, her eyes wider than they had ever been in her life. Her chopsticks fell from her fingers and she suddenly felt lightheaded. Her vision shrank to a point and soon blackness overtook her.

* * *

“MOM!” Izuku yelled as his mom began to slump to the side. He moved to catch her and instinctually burned some of the food he had just eaten to give himself the speed he needed to get to her and the strength to hold her up with ease. Cradling the unconscious form of his mother, Izuku shot Sera a glare. 

“Really Sera?” Izuku asked accusatorily.

“What, how was I supposed to know she would faint at the sight of me.” Sera shot back in protest.

“She’s my mom,” Izuku said back.

Sera opened her mouth then stopped and contemplated that fact. 

“Yeah, your right.” She finally admitted looking dejected at what she had done.

Shaking his head exasperatedly, Izuku lifted his mother. The light floating off of him in whisps making the task easy for him. He carried her to the living room and laid her on the couch gently. Looking her over and seeing no injuries, Izuku elevated her feet just in case. Standing back up Izuku sighed and in doing so finally noticed that he was shining once more. Holding up his hand Izuku stared in awe at the light curling off of his fingers.

“What is it?” Izuku wondered aloud.

“It’s investiture,” Sera answered, she floated next to Izuku’s head staring at his hand with a fond expression, “It is the force that powers our bond and allows you to use your abilities.”

“So is it magic?” Izuku asked.

“Just as much as quirks are magic,” Sera said.

“But quirks are biological in nature,” Izuku responded thinking about all the study he had done into the nature of quirks over the years.

Sera gave him a deadpan look as she responded, “Sure, there is a completely biological reason that Katsuki can psychically tell his sweat to ignite.” 

Izuku froze at the response. It was true that scientists all claimed there was a biological explanation for quirks, but in all honesty, there were too many unexplainable phenomena where quirks were concerned for their claim to be true. Izuku kept staring at his hand as he pondered this new information.

“So, quirks are all powered by investiture as well,” Izuku stated.

“Yep, it is like Valor said, everyone who has a quirk has a little bit of her power. That bit of power interacts with them in some way determined by their biology to power their specific quirk.”

“How can you know so much about quirks?” Izuku asked, puzzled by the spren’s apparent understanding. 

“Well,” Sera paused to think of how best to explain, “I am kind of drawing conclusions from what Valor said earlier, also I can kind of see quirks through my connection to the cognitive realm. Even though I am present in the physical realm, all spren have the ability to somewhat bleed through the barriers between realms though we can only cross over at specific points like a perpendicularity. Unless you are an inkspren, or a cryptic,” waving hand her hand as though she were brushing away a pesky thought she continued, “I am getting off-topic, anyway, through the cognitive realm I have a limited view at the cognition of people and I can see the piece of Valor that has been grafted on to their soul giving them the power of a quirk. You didn’t have one which was one of the things that drew me to you and made me theorize that forming a bond with you might be possible. Your other qualities just cemented my decision to try and bond with you.”

Izuku blinked at the long explanation and again was interested in the fact that Sera apparently sought him out all those years ago. But he was distracted by something else about how she spoke.

“Sera,” Izuku said, “you sound different.”

The spren looked at him curiously and tilted her head, “What do you mean?” she asked innocently.

“When you were talking just now,” Izuku clarified, “You were using a much more advanced vocabulary than you usually do, and the way you spoke was much more analytical than normal.”

“I was?” the spren said, “I was, I-I…”

The spren paused and seemed to concentrate like she was trying to mentally grasp something before she shook her head and looked at Izuku with a haughty expression, 

“Of course I was using big words, I am extremely intelligent and articulate. You just never listen to me well enough,” The spren said before turning away from Izuku in a huff.

Izuku watched her carefully. Sera was back to speaking in the way he was used to but looking at her closely Izuku could see her shoulders dipped slightly in disappointment, and something told him it wasn’t directed toward him. She had obviously been trying to hold onto a thought that had slipped from her fingers. His mind flashed back to what she had been saying right before they had come inside, that spren lost themselves if they weren’t bonded. Now that their bond had truly begun to develop maybe Izuku would get to finally see who the true Sera was. Smiling gently Izuku spoke,

“I am sorry Sera, I will try to be a better listener in the future.”

She peered at him over her shoulder then turned back to him and smiled brightly. They were interrupted shortly thereafter by a mumble from Inko.

“Izuku?” she said groggily as she came back to consciousness, her hand reaching out blindly.

“I’m here mom,” Izuku said reassuringly, grabbing the reaching appendage, and holding on tightly.

“I had the strangest dream that you were shining and there was a little blue gir-” the woman stopped speaking as her eyes opened and focused on Izuku’s face. “Oh my heavens, it was real.”

Izuku smiled brightly, literally because he was still full of light, and spoke, “I got my quirk mom.”

Inko was uncertain at first how to respond, but after seeing the joy on Izuku’s face she could only give one response,

“I’m so happy for you.”

* * *

The remainder of the evening passed much more calmly. When the small amount of light Izuku had generated in reaction to his mother’s fainting spell finally ran out, Izuku felt hunger once again gnawing at his belly. Though thankfully it was much less intense than the vacuous sensation in his gut after first awakening his power. His mother and he had sat back down at the table to finish eating, Sera floating around above them contentedly. As he ate, Izuku watched his mother as her eyes couldn’t help but trace the path the small blue girl was traveling. 

“So,” Inko finally asked, “What is your quirk?”

Izuku pondered for a moment about how to explain it believably.

“I can burn calories I eat to fill myself with an energy that gives me enhanced speed and strength. I can also use it to adhere matter to other matter,” Izuku said, hoping that it made sense. 

“Uh-huh,” Inko replied distractedly, “and how does that relate to the small blue fairy following you around. Did you make it? Is it alive?”

Izuku was tongue-tied for how to respond to that.

“Well first off,” Sera said, taking the opportunity to speak, “I am not an ‘it’, I am a beautiful and elegant lady, as you can see. And secondly, I am completely autonomous from Izuku. But our bond is the means by which he can access his power.” As the spren spoke she floated down and seemed to sit on the air near Inko, giving the woman a friendly smile as she did.

“Oh,” Inko said, “I see,” she was clearly still confused but she shook it off. She continued speaking, though now she addressed the spren directly, “So how did you know that I was Izuku’s mother if you were only awakened today?”

“I have actually been around for a long time, I first started following Izuku around back in elementary school,” Sera explained.

Inko’s eyes widened in shock, “What? Izuku has known about you all this time and never told me.”

“I know it is shocking,” Sera said in commiseration with the woman, “he even has pages and pages in his notebooks dedicated to writing down facts about me and he never once tried to show you.”

“Oh, what a cruel son I have,” Inko said in mock sorrow, “making me worry unnecessarily while all this time he kept you hidden from me.” 

Izuku on the other side of the table blushed at the teasing from the two women and looked away as he continued to eat.

“You make me wish you were still invisible,” he muttered.

Inko and Sera shared a look before giggling at the boy’s sullen expression. The rest of dinner was mostly silent as the Midoriya family finished eating. When the plates were empty Izuku stood and helped his mother clean the dishes before excusing himself to go to his room. As he left the kitchen however his mom stopped him.

“Izuku,” she said looking into his eyes, “I saw you on the news. I saw that you ran into that situation to save Katsuki even though you two are no longer friends. I was so terrified, and when the explosion happened, I thought I had lost you.”

Izuku looked away from his mother ashamed that he had made her so afraid and dreading that she would no longer allow his dream of being a hero.

“But,” She continued, turning the boy’s face back to her, “then I saw you shine. I saw a hero on the news today who made me feel safer than even All Might.”

Izuku’s eyes widened and he felt tears prickle in their corners.

“Do you still want to be a hero?” Inko asked

Izuku nodded, not fully trusting his voice.

“Then I am rooting for you 100%,” Inko said.

The two shared a final embrace before Izuku walked to his room. Closing the door Izuku looked at the memorabilia spread throughout his room. So much had happened today that a part of him just wanted to fall asleep, but he pushed away his fatigue and reached into his bag pulling out his journal, now charred from the treatment it had received from Bakugou that afternoon. Walking to his desk he opened it to the page after the signature he had received from ALL Might, and wrote at the top in bold lettering, “TRAINING PLAN.”

“Sera,” he said looking at his partner who was floating beside him watching the notebook, “if we plan to be heroes, we have work to do.”

The Spren smiled fiercely before throwing her hands in the air and shouting, 

“Let’s do it!“


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Izuku woke early and groggily slipped from his bed. Standing up he shook himself to be a bit more alert, then started a quick stretching routine he had found in his research the evening before. Afterward, he changed into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and made his way outside, walking quietly so as not to disturb his mother. As he jogged down the route that he had mapped out, he was eventually joined by a shining ribbon of light that resolved itself into the shape of Sera.

“Morning Izuku,” the spren said brightly,

Izuku smiled slightly at her peppy attitude, though he didn’t respond because he was gasping for air as he ran. 

“Wow, you are really out of shape,” Sera commented, “if you really wanted to be a hero this whole time why weren’t you doing this earlier.”

Izuku paused at a crosswalk that was showing a red “do not cross” sign and jogged in place as he waited for the light to change.

“I ‘huff’ was focusing ‘huff’ on find’huff’ing a way ‘huff’ to fight without a ’huff’ quirk,” Izuku gasped out.

Sera hummed at his answer not convinced that it wasn’t an excuse.

The light changed and Izuku took off. He didn’t stop again until he reached the park that was his turnaround spot. Resting a moment, he walked in circles with his hands on his head, breathing deeply. 

“I had also planned to start doing this later this year in preparation for the UA entrance exam,” he said, continuing the conversation. As he walked his face fell a bit as he kept talking, “Though I guess a part of me was still doubting that it was possible so I kept putting it off.”

Seeing the dark expression on his face, Sera zipped in front of him. 

“None of that matters now,” she said sternly, “journey before destination, you are still on the journey to being a hero, and just because you weren’t running your hardest doesn’t mean you can’t start now. As long as you haven’t stopped then you haven’t failed.”

Izuku smiled at the spren. 

“You’re right,” he said, his energy rekindled, “how did your search go.”

Last night, as he was surfing the web for training tips, Sera had said they should also practice with their powers. Izuku had reminded her about the laws against using quirks in public so she said that she would look for a good place that they could use and had been out all night searching.

“I found a place,” Sera said proudly, “It isn’t very far from your house, about as far as this park actually, and like no one goes there. It is also filled with stuff we can practice using your powers on.”

“Great,” Izuku said, “let’s visit after school today.”

Turning away Izuku took off running back toward his home, trying to push himself just a little bit harder than he had on the way here.

* * *

When he entered the apartment, his mother started as the door opened.

“Izuku?” she said in confusion, “I didn’t realize you were up.”

“Yeah, sorry mom, I didn’t want to bother you. I just went out for a run.”

“A run?” Inko asked.

“I decided that I need to take wanting to be a hero more seriously so I did some research yesterday about exercise and I made a training plan. I’m trying to be ready when I take the entrance exam for UA in ten months,” he explained.

“O-ok” Inko said, impressed by the conviction in her son’s voice, “is there anything I can do to help.”

“Um,” now it was Izuku’s turn to stumble. He had been so focused on doing his plan that he hadn’t given thought to how his mother could help him, but an idea popped into his head.

“Could you make me snacks?”

“What kind?” Inko asked,

“Uh, how about a bunch of different types at the start. I told you how my quirk works by burning food right. Well, I wanted to see if I can find out if different types of food are more effective, is it better to have protein or carbs, or is it all about calories, no matter the source. Would fiber possibly let me store more food due to it not digesting as fast? What about sugar or nonedible substances would I still be able to…”

He started to mumble as he thought about the inner workings of his abilities but he was soon cut off by his mother.

“I will do my best Izuku,” she said smiling kindly, “why don’t you finish getting ready for school while I finish breakfast.”

“Ok,” the boy said smiling before leaving for his room.

As Inko watched him leave, she was surprised by a sudden voice behind her,

“Thank you,”

Spinning around Inko was surprised to find Sera watching her.

“For what?” Inko asked.

“For supporting him all this time,” the spren answered, “I mentioned yesterday that I have been around Izuku for a while now. I have seen you, even when he wasn’t around, and I know that it wasn’t easy for you, trying to support him in his dream when you thought he was powerless.”

“I didn’t support him,” Inko said sadly, “not as I should have.”

“You did your best,” Sera insisted, “I could see it in your face, the thought of him trying to be a hero terrified you. But even so, you never stood in his way. You never once asked him to give up no matter how much you wanted to. You were put in an impossible situation and you did your best. That is all anyone can do.”

Inko gave a teary smile, “In that case, you’re welcome,” she said, “and thank you for your words. Even though I may not feel I deserve them, I can tell that you think I do, so thank you.”

The woman and spren smiled at each other for a moment more before Sera floated after Izuku. Wiping away her tears Inko turned back to the kitchen. She may feel like she hadn’t been the best mother before, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying harder from this point onward.

* * *

“Bye mom,” Izuku called as he walked out the door to go to school, “I’ll see you when I get home.”

“Take care Izuku,” Inko said as he shut the door.

As Izuku walked down the steps, he shrugged his shoulders trying to get his school uniform jacket to sit more comfortably. At the beginning of the year, his mother had bought two uniforms for him just in case. His usual jacket had been the one he wore during the villain fight yesterday. Last night as he had changed for bed, he finally noticed how much damage it had taken. One of the sleeves had been ripped at the seam, a button had fallen off, and the entire thing smelled of sewage and smoke. He had shown his mother and she had assured him that today while he was at school she would get it fixed up good as new. Until then, however, he was stuck with this jacket that just didn’t feel right.

“Stop fidgeting,” Sera admonished him as they walked to school.

She had taken her usual form that looked like it was wearing the girl version of the school uniform. He found it funny that she would often try to mimic the people around her when she could become any shape she wanted. He had asked her about it once and her response had been a simple, “People are interesting.”

As they made their way to the school they spoke about their training plans and Izuku tried again to find out where the spot was that Sera had picked out for him. She would just deflect any questions saying, “It’s a secret,” in a cutesy way. In the end, he gave up and resigned himself to wait until that afternoon. It was a Saturday so classes were only a half-day rather than the usual schedule, so he wouldn’t have to wait long.

As he walked he would sometimes pause to shake out his legs, which were still sore from the run he had taken that morning. As he was getting ready he had thought about burning some calories to fill himself with a little light because it always seemed to make him feel better, but Sera had scolded him saying,

“No cheating, you need to be strong on your own without using the power as a crutch, strength before weakness, Izuku.”

As Izuku thought about what she had said he started a new topic of conversation with Sera as they walked.

“Sera, what do the words mean?” Izuku asked.

“Hm? What words?” Sera asked, apparently she was a bit more airheaded at the moment.

“The first oath I made. You have quoted it twice today. When I was running you told me journey before destination, and then earlier when I was getting ready you told me strength before weakness. If I remember correctly the first part was life before death, right?”

Sera thought for a moment.

“Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination. That is the first ideal. On my original world, there was an order of heroes called the Knights Radiant. A knight was made when a human bonded to a spren, there were different types of spren and each had different oaths for their specific order of the knights but every order kept this first ideal.” Suddenly her face scrunched up as though she were struggling, “The ideal means… it means that, I… ah.” Sera grabbed her head like she was in pain.

“Sera?” Izuku said in worry. His hands raised as if to grab her though he knew that he couldn’t really touch her. He had tried in the past and she seemed to float around his grasp. It had felt a lot like trying to grab steam. You could feel something there but it wasn’t solid enough to grasp.

After a moment Sera seemed to calm down but she was obviously saddened by what had happened.

“I am sorry Izuku, it is so hard to hold onto thoughts sometimes. It feels like I have them for a while but they slip through my fingers like sand and the harder I grab onto them the faster they drain away.” Sera met Izuku’s eyes and he could see sadness and despair at her condition. “I hate it because it feels like I am losing myself again. Like I will go back to being a little mute ball of light. I’m scared.”

Izuku’s heart clenched. He could see his friend in such pain and there was nothing he could do. Putting on his most comforting smile Izuku tried to reassure the spren.

“H-hey, you mentioned yesterday that our bond is what helped you regain yourself then, maybe we just have to wait and let it grow. You called this the first ideal so there must be more. Maybe when I am ready to swear them, you will be able to get better.” 

Sera smiled at his attempt to comfort her then pumped her fist energetically,

“Yeah,” she agreed, “we just have to train and get stronger and become the best heroes ever.”

“Yeah,” Izuku agreed, happy to see her enthusiasm return, “now let’s get to school so I am not late.”

* * *

Izuku put some last-minute additions to his notes as the teacher wrapped up their lecture. Saturdays were normally for review so he only needed to pay partial attention because most of the material that was talked about he had already written down. The majority of Izuku’s day was spent watching Sera as she lazily floated around the room or staring at the front cover of his analysis notebook where he had written the words of the first ideal. 

The words were interesting, they had the sound of something vaguely philosophical, but when he said them his mind always flashed back to the moment when he had sworn the oath. No one told him these words before that moment. They had come into his mind completely of their own accord. They were old words and by saying them he had accepted to live in a certain way. The only problem was that he didn’t fully understand yet what that way was.

Eventually, the students heard the bell signifying the end of the day. Sighing in relief at being free to continue his training, Izuku began to pack his things. It had been a peaceful day which Izuku mainly ascribed to the fact that Katsuki hadn’t come to school. Izuku hoped that he was alright. As much as Izuku didn’t like Katsuki he didn’t want anything to happen to him. Izuku truly believed that with his power the boy could be a great hero. His attitude may need work, but Izuku had seen Katsuki be good in the past so he tried to keep hope that he could learn to be kind again. Though honestly, the other boy made it hard sometimes. Izuku’s thoughts were interrupted by a call from across the room,

“Hey Deku, don’t think you will get away scot-free just because Bakugou isn’t here.”

Izuku immediately tensed. A part of him hated that he had been trained to respond to that derogatory name but over the years he had learned that by ignoring it he would just be taking an explosive hit that he hadn’t prepared for. In the end, he decided that if the bullies were going to warn him he might as well pay attention. As he looked across the way, instead of Katsuki walking across the room for him, he was treated to the long-fingered form of Nagai Yubi. 

Nagai was one of Katsuki’s oldest minions, having joined the explosive boy in his bullying all the way back in elementary school. Where they differed was that other than Katsuki’s violent tendencies and crude speech, he was a model citizen. He never broke rules other than quirk usage, he had the top scores in their class, and he wanted to be a hero. Nagai on the other hand was a full-on delinquent. He was failing, or near failing, most of his classes; he was known to extort students; and he would often come to school smelling like cigarettes, which he would blame on his father but many students confessed secretly that they had seen him smoking on the street.

On any other day, Izuku would be cowering away from this cruel boy. But, after what he had been through yesterday, Izuku was just indifferent to him. The sludge villain had looked at Izuku with true malice and an intent to kill. Nagai merely had a smug sense of self-importance which had been inflated by his close relationship with the most powerful kid in the school. Turning back to his desk, Izuku continued to put away his school supplies. 

“Who do you think you’re ignoring, you quirkless loser,” Nagai said after seeing Izuku’s reaction.

Izuku hesitated when his hand found the charred notebook. He thought of the words inside. How long had he cowered, acting weak, so that the bullies would leave him alone? The name quirkless didn’t sting so much now that he had power of his own, instead, it sparked a wave of righteous anger. People thought they were entitled to lord themselves over him because they were strong when he was weak. That wasn’t how strength should be used. Didn’t heroes show every day that the strong were supposed to stand in defense of the weak, as a bulwark against the pain that the world tried to inflict upon them? Izuku wasn’t strong yet, he had only begun on that journey, but he refused to act weak in the face of those who tried to improperly use their strength. 

“Strength before weakness,” Izuku whispered to himself.

Squaring his shoulders, Izuku stood and glared at the approaching boy. Nagai was alone today, even though he was a delinquent he didn’t have the presence to draw followers the way Katsuki did. He was probably trying to bully Izuku as a way to establish himself outside of Katsuki’s shadow while the explosive teen wasn’t here. At seeing the usually timid boy stand his ground though, the long-fingered bully halted. The rest of the class froze as well. There were still a few stragglers either talking to friends or packing their things as Izuku had been doing. Nagai’s calls to Izuku had grabbed their attention, now their eyes all widened at the scene before them. Izuku, the class punching bag, had just stopped one of his tormentors in their tracks with a look. Nagai glanced around and, seeing the reaction of the crowd, tried to regain control of the situation.

“Wh-what are you saying nerd, you doing that mumbling thing again?” Nagai clenched his teeth when he finished, upset at the stutter that had appeared while he spoke, but he tried to disguise it as a smirk.

“Yubi,” Izuku said, his voice calm and level, “you and Kacchan have been bullying me for a long time, trying to get me to know my place.” Izuku then turned and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulders. “Well, I have decided that I do know my place.” Looking straight into the bully’s eyes Izuku began walking, “I am going to be a hero and there is nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me.”

Izuku didn’t say another word as he walked straight past the frozen form of Nagai Yubi and exited the classroom. The bully stood stock still for a moment until his shocked state was disturbed by the whispers he heard around him. Glancing about he saw that all the people were talking quietly but excitedly to each other.

“What are you all looking at?” he yelled in his most threatening voice. The room went silent watching him. The stares left him flustered so he stormed out of the classroom looking for the boy who had defied him. When he got out into the hallway, he saw no sign of the green-haired youth. The boy punched the wall with a roar of frustration, then put his fists in his pockets and walked away.

* * *

Izuku hurried down the street outside the school at his fastest walking pace. As soon as he had made it out of the room he had felt his feet speed up hoping to make it out of the building before Nagai retaliated. As he walked, his face was red, his eyes were wide, and he was mumbling at a mile a minute.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. What was I thinking? That was so stupid. Now, when I see him next, he will pound me for sure, and he will tell Kacchan, who will get mad, that I am trying to be a hero still and then they will break my legs so that I can never take the entrance exam and I am so dead oh no…”

“What are you talking about?” Sera suddenly yelled in his face, breaking his muttering storm and halting him in his tracks. “What you did back there was amazing. You finally stood up to those bullies after all this time. I am so proud of you.”

Seeing the spren’s excitement helped to lift the boy’s spirits enough that he no longer felt fear due to what just occurred. As he continued walking, he thought about the experience of standing up to the bully.

“I-i h-honestly don’t know what came over me.” Izuku admitted, “I was thinking about a part of the first ideal, strength before weakness, and I thought about how I normally act weak in front of Kacchan and his friends. I felt that I couldn’t do that anymore. I needed to start using the strength I have even if it isn’t that impressive. I am sure Yubi would still be able to beat me, but I couldn’t roll over and just take it.”

Sera floated down and settled on his shoulder, 

“You didn’t use to do that you know,” Sera said, “The memory is fuzzy because it was from back before I could really form myself, but I remember a day in a park when you stood up for another kid. It was behavior like that, that drew me to you. Your ability to pull from a well of strength when you were trying to protect someone. You need to learn that the strength is always there, so you can pull it out when you need it, not just when others do.”

“I guess you are right,” Izuku agreed, thinking about yesterday when his feet had moved on their own in defense of the boy who hated him the most. He never really felt that drive when he was the victim, but seeing others in need moved him. Could he be a hero if he was unable to save himself?

Sera launched herself off his shoulder and spun in the air in front of him. 

“Of course, I am right.” the spren said, “and that is why we train.”

“Yeah,” Izuku said, smiling now, “let’s get home so we can grab my stuff, then you can show me the spot you found.”

The boy’s pace picked up as he made his way down the road toward his home.

About a half-hour later, prepared for training, Izuku stared in shocked horror at the trash heaps in front of him as he looked over Takoba Municipal Beach Park. 

“Isn’t it great?” Sera asked happily.

Izuku knew of this beach, it was the most infamous city park in all of Musutafu. In the past, several community service groups regularly vowed that they would restore the beach to its former glory, but none made any real progress. Eventually, the people of the city decided to just avert their eyes and ignore it. Izuku looked at her and saw the proud smile she wore. He tried to think of the nicest way to express his feelings.

“It certainly is surprising that you would bring me here,” Izuku said, putting on a shaky smile.

Sera did not appreciate his response, however, and she glared at him with her cheeks puffed out.

“Come on Izuku, look at it.” she insisted, “No one ever comes here, there is plenty of space among the piles, and you can find tons of heavy stuff to lift so you can build muscles.” To emphasize her point, she made her arms and legs bulge as if she had suddenly become a bodybuilder. 

Relenting to give the area a try, Izuku hefted the bag he had brought to his shoulder. It contained his notebook, a towel, a few water bottles, and several Tupperware containers carrying snacks his mother had prepared for him while he was at school. She had even listed the ingredients on the lids so that he would have better data for his study into how different foods affected his energy output. He hadn’t been able to help the smile that had come over his face when he had seen the care she had taken for him.

Izuku walked down a cement path that ran along the top of an eight-foot retaining wall that separated the beach from the road. The path ended at a parking lot where there were stairs that led down to the sand below. The parking lot was empty except for a lone white truck. As Izuku walked he heard rustling and muffled grunts coming up from the beach. Looking down, Izuku noticed a skinny figure in a dark blue shirt and pants carrying what appeared to be a broken microwave on his shoulder. Seeing the person struggle Izuku couldn’t help himself from calling down,

“Do you want some help with that?’

Unfortunately, Izuku’s call startled the man, who spun reflexively to see who had spoken to him. The weight of the microwave combined with the unstable footing from the sand caused the figure to lose their balance and begin falling back. Just as he had when his mother began to faint, Izuku burned the food in his stomach to get the light that powered his abilities. As the light filled him, the world seemed to slow as his thought processes sped up. He couldn’t just jump down to help the person because they would both be falling at the same rate and Izuku had to travel farther to reach them than the person had to travel to hit the ground. He also didn’t think he was fast enough to run to the stairs and back in time to catch them. Suddenly an idea sprang into his mind. He knew that he could stick other people and objects together by filling them with light, did that mean that he would be able to use that power on himself. 

Deciding to risk it, Izuku moved forward and put his foot over the edge of the wall, pouring some light into the wall’s surface, and using the sticking ability, he adhered his foot to it, then stepped off with the other. He had a moment of vertigo as he fell forward but his feet held firm. Crouching on the wall he judged his trajectory, canceled the force holding him in place, and launched himself down. He was aiming for the spot right behind the falling figure and he quickly flipped in mid-air, the move made possible because of the light giving him an enhanced sense of balance, so that his feet hit the sand first. He landed with enough force to cause a small explosion of sand, but he ignored it and reached out steadying the man and the weight of the microwave.

“I got you,” Izuku said, hoping to calm down the person so they wouldn’t overreact at his sudden arrival.

When the figure had both feet under him again he dropped the garbage microwave and spun to look at Izuku. Both of their eyes widened as Izuku and All Might recognized each other.

“YOU!” they both shouted pointing a finger at the other person on the beach.

* * *

When the two heroic individuals had finally calmed down from their surprise reintroduction, Izuku, at the request of All Might, picked up the microwave, while the man himself grabbed a few other pieces of garbage and the two of them made their way to the white truck. As he deposited the microwave in the bed of the truck, Izuku could see that it was nearly full of trash. Turning back to the Hero, he saw All Might deposit his own load before addressing the boy again.

“So young man do you have time to sit and talk with an old-timer like me or are you just passing by.”

“Your not that old All Might,” Izuku responded, “and sure I would be glad to.”

With that, the two of them made their way to the retaining wall and sat on the edge looking out at the trash-filled beach. As he walked Izuku noticed Sera, she was quiet and seemed to be studying All Might intensely. Ignoring that for now, Izuku focused on his idol who was stretching back causing some loud cracks to be heard from his spine. Unable to hold in his curiosity any longer Izuku finally asked.

“Why are you here All Might? Your agency is set up in an entirely different prefecture.”

The hero chuckled at the question.

“That is a secret you will have to wait to find out just like all of my other fans.” Looking the boy over, All Might then said, “As a question of my own, do you realize that you still have your quirk active?”

Izuku looked at himself and saw that he was still leaking a bit of light, though it was harder to notice as the sun was still in the sky.

“Oh, um,” Izuku said, still a little nervous about talking about his powers like they were a quirk, “I can’t actually turn it on and off. From what I can tell my quirk works by burning food to create this energy that I use to power my abilities. Once the energy has been created, though, it stays with me until it either leaks away or I use it all.”

“Oh? How interesting,” All Might said.

“I wonder though,” Izuku said absently. Feeling inside himself Izuku touched the light that he held. He knew he could imbue objects and surfaces with it to use adhesion, so maybe he could push it out. Trying to think of how he lost the light fastest, he noticed his breath puffing like a luminescent cloud. Gathering the light into his lungs, he then breathed out and pushed the collected light with the air. His breath glowed more brightly as the light left him and it almost looked like he was breathing fire. When he finished he no longer glowed and Izuku started to feel the familiar hunger that came when he was out of light to sustain him.

“Wow,” All Might said, “That was something. Could you use that for an attack?”

“N-no,” Izuku said, feeling self-conscious at the man’s attention, “honestly that would be something I would never want to do in battle because it would leave me powerless and I don’t think it could actually do anything.”

“So you just did it to see if you could, didn’t you,” All Might said with a sly look which made Izuku blush.

“HA,” the hero barked out a laugh, “don’t be embarrassed boy, I remember when I got my quirk and I wanted to try anything and everything just to see what I could do. It is good that you are learning, you never know when something you thought was useless turns out to be the key to saving a life.”

Izuku felt his chest swell at the praise from the other man. Even though he had passed on the opportunity to be the man’s successor he still admired him greatly for all he had accomplished as a Hero. All Might would forever be Izuku’s biggest inspiration.

“Anyway,” the hero continued, “judging by your clothes and that bag you must have been on your way to train somewhere. Am I right? 

“Actually sir,” Izuku said, “I was planning to see if I could train here at this beach. I learned that it was out of the way and that there is very little traffic so I could use my quirk without worrying about getting in trouble. Also, some of the debris looks heavy enough that I could probably do some weight training.” Izuku felt a little bad about passing off Sera’s Ideas as his own but he didn’t know if she was comfortable with him revealing her to others yet.

“A splendid idea,” All Might responded, “Have you given any thought to your training plan. Exercise is serious business when you are trying to be a hero.”

“Yes, sir,” Izuku said, reaching into his bag he pulled out the notebook and opened it to show his plan to the hero.

All Might took the notebook, smirking slightly as he recognized it from when he autographed it yesterday, and looked at the plan written out in orderly handwriting. As he read through the plan he hummed in appreciation.

“This is pretty good work, my boy,” he complimented, “You could make a few changes here and there to get some more balance into the exercise. I also think if you are planning to use this beach you should think about adding swimming to your routine, it is a great full-body workout and can really help with building lung capacity.” He pulled out a pen making a few notes here and there. “You also want to worry about your diet. From the look of you, you need to build mass, which will probably be extra difficult for you due to you burning away the food you eat to use your powers. You will need to make sure you eat large meals focusing on proteins and make sure you don’t use your quirk so that your body has time to incorporate the nutrients properly.”

With that, he handed the book back and Izuku looked at the revised plan. The notes that were added helped to pull everything together into a comprehensive health routine.

“Wow,” Izuku said, “you know so much about this.”

“Of course,” All Might said, “you think those muscles I had were all from my quirk, I worked hard to sculpt the body I use as a hero.”

“Oh, I am sorry, I kind of assumed when I saw your true form that…” Izuku trailed off looking away in shame for his thoughts.

All Might smiled, “Hey, don’t worry about it, I don’t doubt that the reveal you got yesterday threw a lot of your assumptions into question. It is thanks to my quirk that I am able to power myself up to a form that is close to my prime, but originally that was what I looked like all the time.”

The two of them sat for a moment in silence recovering from the moment of awkwardness. Eventually, Izuku opened his mouth to ask,

“I know you won’t tell me why you are in Musutafu, but why are you here specifically, at this beach?”

All Might was quiet for a moment, but then spoke quietly,

“I am here because I heard about this beach’s story. How because of the people’s apathy, this place has been left to languish as it now is. By doing so the community suffers. People may not realize it but by leaving this place as it is, people start to take less care of other places, eventually, it could lead to an increase in crime, hurting more innocent people. A community is like a living thing, if one part of it is neglected to rot, that rot can spread and if not treated, lead to the death of the whole thing. It is the duty of heroes to stand up and try to make a difference not just in the big things like villain attacks but in the small things, that most people probably don’t notice but that still acts as a weight on their subconscious.” He looked out over the beach. “I wanted to clean this beach to bring a little more light into the lives of the people who live near it.”

Izuku looked at the hero in awe. The genuine care in his voice as he spoke about wanting to make the lives of others better was amazing and Izuku couldn’t help but be inspired.

“I can help,” The boy said earnestly.

All Might looked at the boy’s eyes shining with a new purpose.

“I could help clear the beach as part of my training. Moving all the trash must be great exercise and you are right clearing the beach is bound to bring happiness to the people of the city.”

All Might couldn’t help but smile at the genuine excitement the boy felt at the idea of helping others.

“Sounds like a plan, young man,” All Might said, “I will bring my truck around in the evenings and you can help me load it.”

With their plan made the two stood up from their seats. At the thought of spending more time with his hero, Izuku was excited but he felt that he needed to do one thing if they were going to spend time together regularly.

“Sera,” Izuku whispered, trying to get the spren’s attention. She had still been staring at All Might in the way you might stare at a puzzle, “Sera,” he whispered a little louder.

Finally, the spren shook her head and looked at him questioningly. 

“Hm?” she said.

“Can you show yourself to him?” Izuku asked, “I want to let him know about you so we don’t have to keep you a secret.”

“Ok sure,” Sera said easily.

“Ok, wait for my cue,” Izuku whispered back.

“All Might?” Izuku suddenly said loud enough to catch the man’s attention.

“Yes?” he said

“There is one other part of my quirk that I wanted to show you. This is Sera.” Izuku said pointing to the spren.

All Might’s face looked confused,

“There is nothing there.” The skeletal man said.

“Huh?” Izuku asked, looking at Sera to see she was staring at the Hero again.

“Sera,” Izuku said, “that was your cue.”

The spren blinked, “Oh right, hi All Might.”

The moment the spren became visible the man jumped slightly grabbing his chest.

“Good heavens!” he said in surprise.

After a moment of staring, All Might eventually moved closer for a better look.

“Amazing, so your quirk has a sentient component to it. It isn’t unheard of but it is rare.”   


“Izuku is actually like you,” Sera suddenly said, “He doesn’t have a quirk of his own but instead got his powers from bonding with me just like you are bonded with those..” 

The spren’s mouth clicked shut and she slapped her hand over it.

All Might and Izuku’s eyes bulged as they looked at each other.

“I-I mean, yes I am just a regular quirk like you have, hehehe.” Sera tried to cover it up, smiling awkwardly. 

The two humans looked at each other nervously. 

“You know what,” All Might eventually said to Izuku, “I will pretend I didn’t hear anything if you do the same.”

“Deal,” Izuku responded.

Turning away from the spren, the two men decided to finish filling up the truck bed.

“You know,” All Might said as they walked down the steps to the beach, “this is the third time we have met. And I still haven’t introduced myself or learned your name.”

Stopping the man turned to Izuku and said, “I am Toshinori Yagi, please be kind to me,” before offering a shallow bow. 

The boy was shocked at the introduction but returned it with one of his own, saying “I am Izuku Midoriya, please be kind to me as well,” and offering a deeper bow.

* * *

As the two men walked away, Seranota sighed in relief. She had almost blabbed about the nature of her bond with Izuku without thinking. She was just too distracted by those shadows. She gave one last look to the seven figures following All Might. She would have to find a way to say thank you to the one with long black hair who had held a finger to her lips telling Sera to be quiet. Pushing it from her thoughts she zipped off to follow Izuku and look at all the interesting things strewn across the beach.


	4. Chapter 4

Izuku grunted as he placed another piece of junk in the pile he was making near the parking lot. Straightening up, he wiped the sweat from his brow and looked it over. On Sunday, the day after he had first come here and learned All Might’s real name, Toshinori Yagi, he and Toshinori had established a routine for cleaning the beach on school days. Izuku would come early in the morning before school and move garbage closer to where the truck would be parked. Then in the afternoon after school ended Toshinori would come and he would load the truck from the pile Izuku had made, while Izuku ran garbage to and from the beach itself. By doing the work that way Toshinori would strain his injured body less and Izuku would get more work out of their routine. Izuku smiled and turned back to the beach to move one more load of trash. Today was Monday so it was their first day using the planned schedule. Izuku knew he had about three hours until school started which meant he had a half-hour to get home then he would have two hours to get ready before making the half-hour commute to school. As he moved his last load, which consisted of a rusted bicycle frame and an old tire, to the pile he was building, he saw Sera zip over to him.

“Find anything good?” he asked cheerily. Ever since he had started his training Izuku felt better about himself, he finally felt like he was progressing toward his goal of becoming a hero which filled him with a sense of accomplishment.

"Nah,” Sera said back, a look of disappointment on her face, “Just more garbage.”

“What do you hope to find?” Izuku asked as he dumped the junk he was carrying on the mound and went to grab his towel and water bottle, “We have been coming for three days now and whenever I start working, you take off and fly around looking for something.”

“I am looking for something you can use to start weapons training,” Sera said.

“Weapons training?” Izuku said, confused at the random suggestion, “Why would I do weapons training, I need to touch something to use adhesion so wouldn’t a weapon just get in the way?”

“I can’t remember the details but just trust me you will need to know how to use a weapon,” the spren said, a look of determination on her face.

“Okay,” Izuku relented, “I believe you. When we get back today after school I will help you look for something.”

Turning from the beach, Izuku walked up the stairs to the parking lot and stretched briefly before taking off in a jog. As he ran his breath became heavier as he gasped for oxygen to fill his lungs. He did not like cardio, but he knew it was important to build up stamina. As he ran he contemplated what he would face at school today. 

Two things worried him about returning to school. The first was how the student body would react to him if they knew he had a quirk. On his first day back, the day after the villain attack, no one had made any mention of it, and Izuku understood why they hadn’t. Even though Katsuki was easily recognizable due to his quirk on the footage that had been aired, neither of the boys’ faces had been clearly shown on the news broadcast. None of the students would assume that the glowing boy on screen could possibly be the quirkless kid that everyone thought of as a weak bully magnet. Over the weekend, however, more footage had been posted and a few of the videos that people had captured on their phones did show the faces of Katsuki and Izuku. There was no way that someone in school wouldn’t recognize him now and the question was how would they react. Suddenly a constant of their lives was no more. For the students of Aldera Junior High School, water was wet, the sky was blue, and Izuku Midoriya was quirkless. Izuku figured that the best scenario would be for everyone to continue ignoring him as they had done for most of his school years. Unfortunately, there was one student who he fully expected to have an explosive reaction.

This led his thought to his second issue; Katsuki would be returning to school today. On the day of the sludge villain incident, the two teens had not had the opportunity to interact after the villain was defeated. Katsuki had been swarmed by paramedics and heroes checking his health and congratulating him on his ability to survive. Izuku had been looked over, then scolded by the heroes and police so he had left the area as quickly as he was allowed to. A part of Izuku had expected Katsuki to chase him down and scream some derogatory diatribe about how useless he had been in the situation but apparently, the boy had gone straight home when he was done being checked on, and he hadn’t shown up to school that next day. With how seriously Katsuki took schooling and getting into UA, Izuku knew that the boy wouldn’t let himself miss more than that. Katsuki would 100% be in class today and Izuku was certain that he would be confronted about his actions during the incident. The only problem was that he didn’t know how he would react. 

“Well there’s no use in trying to figure that out now, I will just have to deal with it if it happens,” Izuku said to himself quietly as he approached his apartment building.

* * *

As Izuku walked into the school building he kept his head down as he normally did all his life, though now it was to hide his powers rather than his lack of them. He glanced around in the halls and for the most part, it appeared that the students were treating this like any other Monday. Every so often he would catch people looking at him then whispering to their friends but that wasn’t completely unfamiliar to him being the only quirkless kid in the school. He even saw Katsuki when he entered the classroom they shared and the boy appeared to be acting relatively normal as he leaned back in his chair and watched the world with dismissive eyes. For a moment, Izuku thought he caught the boy’s eyes darting towards him as he entered, but it happened so fast that Izuku disregarded it. Things started deviating during second period when he was suddenly called to the principal’s office. The class erupted into whispers as he walked out, though Izuku just hunched his shoulders and left, doing his best to ignore everything.

As he walked through the halls, Sera materialized in front of him. Sometimes she liked to spend the time while he was in school floating around in different shapes, one time she had been a leaf, another a shooting start. Once she had floated around as a pencil, which was weird to see as you were taking a math test. Today she had decided to spend her time as a fluffy cloud, but now she was back to girl form.

“Why are you acting like this?” Sera asked Izuku.

“What?” Izuku responded.

“On Saturday, you stood up to that long fingers kid and were all cool and confident but now you are back to being timid and shy,” Sera clarified.

“I don’t know,” Izuku answered, “it’s different, I have been dealing with bullies for most of my life now so that situation was familiar, it let me see things more clearly so I felt like I could stand my ground. Now though, people are talking about me because I showed off powers, I don’t know if they are impressed or suspicious or what, but whatever it is, it is something I have never dealt with so I just don’t know how to react. I suppose I just defaulted to how I have been living up until now.”

“Well stop!” Sera said curtly, “This weekend you were doing so well, you stood up to the bully, you trained, you walked tall and strong, and you are now practically best friends with All Might. You may still be a squire but you have a bond and you are trying to be a hero so stand up straight, push those shoulders back and face off against whatever comes as a hero should.” Her voice then softened and she spoke more quietly as she said with a smile, “You’ll do fine, I believe in you Izuku.”

A smile spread on Izuku’s face and he was filled once more with gratitude for his partner.

“Yeah,” Izuku said as he squared his shoulders, ”you’re right, thanks Sera,”

A short time later Izuku walked into the principal’s office,

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Izuku said with only a trace amount of nerves in his voice.

The principal was a portly man who was sitting at his computer when Izuku arrived. At the sound of Izuku’s voice, he turned to the door with a slight smile on his face.

“Mr. Midoriya, thank you for coming so quickly. Please, have a seat.” As the man spoke he motioned for the chairs from across his desk.

“Thank you,” Izuku responded before sitting down on the edge of one of the seats his hands clasped in his lap to hide his nerves.

“Now Midoriya, I am not sure if you are aware but some interesting rumors are being spread about you and I just wanted to touch base about them.”

“What rumors sir?" the young man asked.

“Well Midoriya, as I am sure you are aware the staff has been informed of your disability, and before I go on I want to reassure you that if you are ever feeling marginalized by students or staff that you can come to us in the administration for help.” As he said this the principal looked Izuku in the eyes like he was trying to show off how sincere he was, but Izuku just nodded as he always did when people made comments like this. Izuku had never wanted to be given special consideration, he wanted to be treated like everyone else. After a moment the principal continued, “Yes, as I was saying, as I am sure you are aware one of your classmates Katsuki Bakugou was involved in a villain attack near the end of last week, the rumors I am referring to are those that mention that you were also involved in the attack and that you exhibited some... quirk-like abilities.” The principal seemed to struggle to know just how to express himself with the last part of his statement. 

After he finished speaking the principal looked at Izuku as though he were waiting for the boy to respond. He hadn’t asked a question though so Izuku just looked back, unsure of how he should respond. Did he tell the principal about having powers now? Did he just play dumb and keep his abilities hidden? Izuku had no idea what the man’s reaction would be if the rumors were confirmed by the way he had spoken about them. If anything the man seemed just as confused about what to do as Izuku was. Izuku peeked at Sera to see if she would offer any advice but the spren was just flitting around looking at the various pictures, diplomas, and certificates that the principal had on display.

Seeing no help coming from her Izuku decided that if he was going to be a hero then he had better get used to people knowing about his powers. Meeting the principal’s eyes, Izuku spoke.

“Sir, have you seen the high school plan papers that were completed last Friday?” Izuku asked.

The principal blinked at the unconnected question but he considered it.

“Yes, I have,” The principal said, “I remember two stuck out to me, yours and Bakugou’s, because both of you put down UA as your first choice.

“Yes sir,” Izuku said, “You see I have always and I will always want to be a hero sir, and by some miracle, during the incident last Friday I got a quirk and I plan to make my dream a reality.” As Izuku spoke he didn’t raise his voice, nor did he say what he did like it was some solemn declaration. Instead, he just spoke as though he were stating a fact. He was talking about the new reality of the world, Izuku Midoriya has a quirk and he will use it to be a hero.

“Oh,” the principal said in surprise before his emotion became a kind smile, “well, then good luck, and I hope you do Aldera proud.” 

Izuku was surprised by the principal’s words. He knew that there were teachers in the schools who looked the other way when Bakugou would torment him due to the boy’s impressive quirk and natural talent, so Izuku had nearly given up hope that there were any people in the establishment that would genuinely care about his well being. But the sincerity in the principal’s words as he wished Izuku well made the boy rethink his opinion of the man. Being in charge of over 300 students probably made it difficult for the man to watch out for each one but he probably was doing best. Even though the principal’s words didn’t hit him with as much impact as Valor, All Might, and his mother, Izuku still felt touched by the gesture and gave the principal a sincere, “Thank you.”

With their conversation done, Izuku was dismissed to return to his class, but as he was leaving the principal made one final comment.

“I assume that we will be getting an updated quirk registry form soon.” 

“Quirk registry?” Izuku asked

“Of course,” the principal said in realization, “you wouldn’t be aware due to your history. All schools are given copies of the student’s quirk registry information so that they can make any necessary accommodations for their students. If your quirk status changes then you will need to submit a form so that the change can be recorded. You should be able to get everything taken care of in the city offices”

“Ok,” Izuku said, “Thank you for the information.”

“You’re welcome,” the principal responded, and with that last exchange Izuku left to return to class

* * *

After that disruption, Izuku’s day resumed its usual course with him sitting in the back of the room taking notes quietly as the teacher gave their lesson. When he had returned from the principal’s office the class had watched him but that ended as soon as the teacher pulled everyone’s attention back to the subject of the class. Soon, however, it was time for lunch break and again his normal routine was disrupted.

Izuku normally spent his lunchtime sitting at his desk reviewing his notes, both for class and on heroes, and today he had made no change to that. He had started doing this to make sure he was as far away from Katsuki as possible because the explosive teen ate his lunch on the roof, as to be expected of any protagonist worth their salt. Izuku had almost found it funny how much Bakugou’s life mirrored the protagonists found in pop-culture, he wondered if the boy did it subconsciously or if he purposefully chose to live according to tropes. Either way, as soon as the other boy had started bullying him Izuku wanted as little to do with the other boy’s narrative as possible. Ergo, he ate in the most unassuming place he could think of, at his desk. Normally he would be ignored by the other students that chose to eat in the room but today the universe had another plan. 

“Hey, Midoriya,”

The voice shocked Izuku out of the focus he was giving to his hero notebook. He had noticed as he looked through it that he had never actually finished the entry on Mt. Lady that he had started last Friday. He was now taking the time to write down everything he could remember from her debut that day and coming up with questions he planned to research tonight after he finished training. He had been in the middle of writing “research quirk versatility” when the voice grabbed his attention. Looking over he was shocked to see one of the boys that sat near him turning to address him. The boy’s name was Kubi Rokuro and for the most part, he was unremarkable other than his quirk’s ability to stretch his neck, but even though the boy wasn’t particularly noteworthy he had still never associated with Izuku. Shocked that anyone would initiate a conversation with him, Izuku reflexively answered,

“Huh?”

“So, is it true?” the boy asked, leaning closer as he spoke quietly.

“Is what true?” Izuku asked, though he had a pretty good idea of what the boy was asking about.

“Was it you that saved Bakugou in that video?” the boy said.

“All Might was the one who did the actual saving,” Izuku said, trying to deflect the conversation away from himself.

“So it was you!” the boy said now loudly enough for the rest of the people in the classroom to hear. “Dude, you were awesome, you were like doing flips and stuff and you literally threw the slime guy like twenty feet.”

“Yeah and you were like totally shining the entire time,” another student chimed in from the other side of him, a girl this time.

Soon everyone in the class was crowding around him asking him questions.

“How did you get a quirk?”

“Can you fly?”

“Can you shoot laser beams?”

“Are you radioactive?”

Izuku shrank into his seat and covered his face, overwhelmed by all of the attention. Eventually, the crowd calmed down when they saw that he wasn’t answering. Once they were silent one last request was made.

“Turn on your quirk,” Kubi said, his eyes alight with excitement.

The rest of the class all agreed with the request.

“Umm,” Izuku said his face red with embarrassment, “I c-c-can’t easily turn it b-back off so if I were to activate i-it I would be stuck sh-sh-shining for the rest of the day, a-and I-I don’t w-want to g-get in t-trouble w-with the teacher.”

“Aww, come on Midoriya,” one of the girls in the crowd said pouting cutely at him.

His face somehow got even redder at how close she was getting, but before anything else could happen a voice cut through the crowd.

“What are you doing?”

Everyone in the classroom froze and turned to face the door. Katuski had just arrived, trailed by his usual entourage including Nagai Yubi who was glaring at Izuku over Katsuki’s shoulder. Everybody was used to Katsuki being loud, that was his default setting after all, but when he spoke quietly, that was when you needed to tread lightly. 

“Hey Bakugou, lighten up, we were just asking Midoriya about the video onl-” Kubi froze in his attempt to lighten the mood as Katsuki pinned him with a burning stare.

“Everyone to their seats,” Bakugou commanded, his voice rising just enough to be heard by everyone in the room, “you don’t need to know anything else about what happened at that incident, nothing has changed. Deku is still just as worthless as he always has been, and always will be.”

As rude and mean as Bakugou could be, he was mostly harmless to the average student, sure he may yell and try to intimidate you but he avoided getting violent with anyone. Even Izuku had never been truly beaten by him since they had left elementary school. In their final year before middle school, Bakugou had gone overboard and used a full power explosion on Izuku which had left a burn mark on him. Bakugou had seen the burn mark and called Izuku worthless again but had never gone all out on the boy since that day. 

When he spoke with this tone, however, the students knew not to mess with him. In their second year of junior high, a new student had moved in from another school and had tried to establish himself as a delinquent. The boy had quickly realized that Bakugou ran things and challenged him to a fight to prove who was strongest. Bakugou had laughed in the boy’s face and told him to beat it before he got beat but the boy had persisted and called Bakugou a weakling and a coward for not accepting. That is when Bakugou got quiet. They fought that day after school and according to the witnesses Bakugou won without using a single explosion. Within a week the boy had transferred out of the school.

Quietly the class dispersed all taking their seats and waiting silently for lunch to end and the teacher to return. When the teacher entered the room he stumbled slightly at the sight of all the students already sitting quietly without needing to be calmed down after lunch, but in the end, he thanked them and began his lesson. In the back of the classroom though, Izuku trembled in his seat. He had seen something in Katsuki’s eyes when the boy had looked at him: rage. An inferno of anger that was entirely focused on him. Izuku knew that right now a storm was brewing in Katsuki and all Izuku could do was brace for impact.

* * *

When the final bell rang, Izuku quietly began packing his things, but he wasn’t surprised when a shadow fell over his desk.

“Deku, get your things and follow me.” It wasn’t a suggestion.

When he finished packing, Izuku stood. Nagai and Katsuki’s other usual follower fell in behind Izuku to prevent him from running.

“As if I could run,” Izuku thought ruefully.

Izuku had known that this was coming. Izuku couldn’t claim to know Katsuki perfectly, they hadn’t been friends in years, and since their friendship ended their interactions mainly fell into two categories, Katsuki dismissing Izuku, and Katsuki being angry at Izuku. And after the events of the sludge villain incident, the chances of Katsuki dismissing Izuku were microscopically tiny.

Soon the group of young men had exited the school grounds and were walking to a park a few blocks away. Izuku sighed, whenever he entered a park with Katsuki things never ended well. The group walked a little way into the park, near a copse of trees that was shaped like a crescent with an area in the middle that was obscured from the nearest road. When they finally stopped Izuku waited to see what would happen.

“Turn it on,” Katsuki said.

“What?” Izuku asked.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” the boy said, his voice rising. “Turn on your quirk, right now!”

“Kacchan I do-” Izuku was interrupted by the explosive teen roughly grabbing his collar. 

Izuku heard rustling from behind him like one of the other two young men present was planning to join Katsuki but the explosive teen stopped whoever it was with an outstretched hand.

“Don’t come any closer. This is between me and Deku.” Turning back to Izuku, the explosive teen continued speaking, his voice going quiet again. “Do you think you’re better than me? Did you think I wouldn’t catch on that you had a quirk this whole time?”

Now Izuku was genuinely confused, “What do you mean Kacchan? I didn’t get my quirk until that villain fight.”

Katsuki gave Izuku another shake as he shouted, “Liar! You must really think I am stupid if you think I wouldn’t recognize it when you stuck me to the ground.” With a shove, Izuku was sent toppling down. “All these years when my shoes would randomly stick or I wouldn’t be able to pick up my pencil. You thought I wouldn’t remember each time you used your quirk on me?”

Izuku’s eyes widened as he remembered all the times that Sera had stood up for him, pranking his bullies in retaliation.

“I do have to hand it to you Deku, you certainly know how to tell a story. The quirkless loser, looked down on his whole life then suddenly he pulls some amazing power out of his ass the moment all the cameras are rolling, good show!” He punctuated his rant with several pops from his palms.

“You’ve been hiding this whole time laughing at me, biding your time, thinking your power is better than mine, well then let’s see it. Come on Deku, light it up!” He shot his hand forward and launched an explosion so that it blasted the ground to Izuku’s side. “Turn it on you worthless loser, I will prove that I am still the best and that a cowardly, conniving, weakling like you will never be anything more than a Deku!” Another explosion went off whooshing past Deku’s other side which also happened to catch Izuku’s bag that had fallen from his shoulders and blew it a few yards away. Izuku began inching back as Katsuki approached. Suddenly, Sera zoomed up to him.

“C’mon Izuku, stand up and let’s take this guy,” she said,

“What? No,” Izuku whispered back, “He isn’t thinking straight, getting into a fight like this could jeopardize both of our chances to get into UA.”

“Are you serious Izuku,” Sera said back in disbelief, “Right now this guy is only acting like a villain. You are well within your right to stand up for yourself.”

“No,” Izuku said, “It wouldn’t be right. It would put him in danger of losing his chance to be a hero.”

Sera stared at Izuku.

“What are you muttering about now, nerd,” Katsuki growled out as he watched Izuku on the ground, the green-haired boy still wasn’t shining like he had seen on that day so he decided to push harder, “Fine,” Katsuki said, “If you won’t turn it on yourself, I will make you turn it on.” Stretching out his hand directly at the boy’s face it started to glow orange as an explosion charged similarly to how it had the day of the sludge villain incident. Izuku watched, fear building in his eyes before Sera flew directly into Katsuki’s face and started screaming.

“Stop it you bully!” 

Katsuki’s eyes widened and his hand shot straight up so that the explosion launched into the air.

“Huh?” Katsuki said in shock at the appearance of the small blue girl.

“You’re wrong,” The spren continued, “I am the one who did all those pranks to you, Izuku had nothing to do with it. He is telling the truth that he had no control over his powers until that day.”

“Deku, what is this?” Katsuki demanded.

“She is telling the truth, Kacchan. This is Sera, she is part of my quirk and she has a mind of her own. I really did have no idea I could make use of her powers directly until after I ran in to help you last Friday.”

“You didn’t help!” Katsuki yelled, “I was doing fine on my own and you just said so yourself that you ran in with no powers, you were lucky that you could control your fairy here. You got that?”

“Right sure,” Izuku quickly agreed.

Katsuki stared at Izuku on the ground and the small blue girl that was glaring at him in the air before clicking his teeth and walking back to where he had dropped his bag.

“Whatever,” He said as he collected his things, “You still shouldn’t even try for the UA exam, your power is weak and you are useless. I will be the only one from this crap school to move up to the big leagues!”

Izuku sat silently for a moment, his eyes shadowed as he looked down, before he spoke quietly.

“You can’t stop me.”

“Huh? What are you mumbling about?” Katsuki said.

Standing, Izuku looked at Katsuki with determination in his eyes. 

“I said, you can’t stop me, Kacchan.” Izuku said more loudly, “I am going to train harder than ever over these next ten months and when we go up against each other during the exam you will see that I will be just as strong as you, stronger even.”

“Don’t even try Deku,” Katsuki said threateningly, “if you try to approach me, then I’ll kill you,” again he punctuated his sentence with a few pops from his hand.

Izuku just stared back resolutely.

Eventually, their staring match ended with Katsuki turning away and beginning to leave the park. One of his followers grabbed his things and made to follow but Nagai looked livid.

“What are you doing Bakugou,” The long-fingered delinquent said, “There are three of us and only one of him, let’s just beat him down and remind him where his place is.”

“Shut up extra, or I’ll kill you too,” Katsuki said dismissively and began walking from the park.

Nagai looked like he would argue before he grit his teeth and grabbed his own bag to follow the explosive teen.

As soon as all three of the other boys were no longer in sight the strength drained from Izuku’s legs and he fell to the ground,

“I’m alive,” He said in relief with a hint of disbelief thrown in.

“And who gets credit for that,” the haughty voice of Sera said from beside the boy.

“You do,” Izuku said. “You were amazing Sera. I can’t believe you stood up to Kacchan like that.”

Sera turned angrily to Izuku, “And I can’t believe you didn’t. You can’t rely on others to save you all the time Izuku, you are always ready to jump in headfirst for someone else but when you are in danger you just roll over and take it. That has to change and as punishment, you have to work twice as hard today during training, understood?”

“Fine,” the boy said in a contrite voice before he got up, walking over to get his bag. Once all his things were collected, he and his floating blue companion made their way out of the park. Neither noticed, however, that another figure followed them as well.

* * *

Soon, Izuku was once again looking over the trash heaps of Takoba Municipal Beach Park.

“Ok,” Sera said, catching Izuku’s attention, “as penance for your attitude today you are going to be moving three washing machines today, got it.” She punctuated her statement with a threatening swing of an oversized paper fan. She didn’t do it often but sometimes she liked to copy things she had seen in anime and today she had decided to take the form of the stereotypical training coach.

Izuku laughed nervously but he knew that it would only get worse if he argued so he simply said, “I will do my best,” and began moving toward the parking lot and the stairs down to the sand.

“Let’s get started, we still have an hour or two before Mr. Yagi will arrive so I can add some more to the pile, and maybe we can look for something for weapons training like you mentioned this morning.” A part of Izuku hoped that by mentioning it he could distract Sera from trying to force him to move three washing machines. 

“Not surprising you came here Deku. After all, trash belongs at a trash heap.”

Izuku froze at the sound of the voice and turned sharply to see Nagai Yubi walking up to him.

“Yubi?” Izuku asked in shock, “W-what are you doing here?”

The other boy stalked toward Izuku threateningly, smirking nastily at the sound of the boy’s stutter. Ignoring the question the boy elongated his fingers as he walked.

“I don’t know what Bakugou was thinking letting you walk away without a proper punishment, but don’t expect me to be so kind. You have been getting uppity ever since you started getting internet famous so I think I need to remind you just how much of a loser you actually are.”

The long-fingered boy’s quirk, from Izuku’s limited understanding, caused his fingers to lengthen by growing new joints on the ends. As they grew they also developed additional muscle essentially giving the boy five prehensile tails on the ends of his hands. They could also reach lengths of up to four feet letting the boy easily grab his targets by the wrist or ankles and once he had his fingers wrapped around you tightly enough, it was rather difficult to escape.

“Yubi, I am not trying to get popular, I just want to be a he-” Izuku’s explanation was interrupted by a backhanded slap from the other boy, who had just entered the range for his fingers to reach Izuku. The attack made Izuku back up in shock and fall to the ground. Izuku reached up and felt at his cheek, his hands coming away wet from where the other boy's fingernails had scratched his face.

“Shut up, I don’t care about any of that hero crap, feel free to go fail the UA entrance exam all you want. What I care about is that you annoy me and that on Saturday you disrespected me in front of the whole class.”

Izuku was shocked at the other boy. Katsuki was Izuku’s main bully, so Izuku was used to facing the boy’s goal-centric viewpoint. As he explained, Katsuki wanted to be the only one from the school to join UA so that he would stand out more in his hero career, and he saw Izuku’s effort as a threat to that plan. Now, Izuku was facing Nagai and apparently, the boy just wanted to hurt him. When Izuku had stood up to Nagai on Saturday he hadn’t felt this much malice from the bully, but now he was reminded of the feeling he got from the slime villain. There was no reason for the boy’s actions other than the desire to see someone else get hurt. And once again Izuku was stunned and not sure what to do. Sera however acted right away and flew at the boy’s face.

“Leave him alone,“ she said, hoping to catch the boy off guard and stall him.

Nagai, however, had already seen the small blue girl at the park so he just waved her away like he would a cloud of smoke.

“Hey,” Sera said, indignant at the treatment. While her attempt to help was ineffectual, the cry she made triggered the protective instincts in Izuku causing him to move. 

Izuku wasn’t a practiced fighter by any means, the grace he had shown during his battle against the slime villain came from the supernatural balance and agility granted him by his bond with Sera. So since he didn’t have any light in him now, all he could do was clumsily push himself to his feet and attempt to tackle the other boy. Nagai however was a practiced street fighter, so when Izuku attempted the tackle he reflexively stepped back allowing him to lower his center of gravity and stay upright. Then, rolling his fingers up so that he could more easily form a fist, he punched the green-haired boy in the side of the head. This stunned Izuku enough that Nagai was able to push him back and use his other hand to grab the bottom half of Izuku’s face.

“See, Deku,” Nagai gasped out, the adrenaline of the scuffle making him breathe more deeply, “this is what I was talking about, you used to be so easy to push around but now, just because some of the other kids fawned over you, you think you can do whatever you want. I am just trying to remind you about the reality of things. Bakugou is on top, I am just under him, and you are the useless loser that sits at the very bottom of, below everyone else. You are nothing, and you will always be nothing.”

The boy’s taunts reignited the anger that had sparked Izuku to action on Saturday. What right did Nagai have to say that about him when so many people now believed in his dream of being a hero. With the long-fingered hand covering Izuku’s mouth, he acted on a natural-born instinct and opened his mouth wide before biting down, his teeth digging into the flesh between the other boy’s thumb and forefinger. Nagai shouted in pain and tore his hand from Izuku’s mouth then pushed him away.

What neither boy had noticed was that during their scuffle they had moved close to the edge of the retaining wall that separated the beach from the road. The push that Nagai gave Izuku was enough to cause the green-haired youth to topple back over the wall and begin to fall to the sands below. Izuku’s face showed confusion when he stepped back and found there was no floor to support him. Then the confusion morphed to shock as he began to fall. For a moment the world seemed to move in slow motion and Izuku could see Nagai’s own face morph to shock at the sight of his opponent falling out of sight.

Izuku felt like he was falling forever until suddenly he wasn’t as his back collided with the earth his breath left him in a single gasp and for some reason he wasn’t able to inhale. He collected himself and looked down to see why he was having trouble breathing and when his eyes focused on his chest he saw that sticking out of his body was a rusted length of metal pipe, glistening red with blood. While some of the space next to the retaining wall was empty sand, in other areas, like the one he had fallen into, there was scattered garbage and junk. The shock Izuku felt at seeing that he had been impaled held back the pain, but eventually, it came in a flood. The fact that he had no air in his lungs kept him from screaming, however. Looking up, Izuku saw the form of Nagai peering over the ledge and their eyes met. Weakly Izuku reached out toward the other boy wordlessly asking for help but the long-fingered boy stood frozen, his eyes wide, as he looked at the grisly scene. Finally, he turned and disappeared from Izuku’s view and didn’t return.

Izuku felt abandoned and alone for a moment before suddenly Sera was there frantically screaming his name. His ears seemed to be pounding with blood but as he focused her shouts became clear.

“Izuku, use your power, hurry!” the spren called.

Unable to think clearly, Izuku latched onto the command from his friend and burned food to fill himself with light. Every time he had used his power since activating them he had only burned a small amount, mentally holding himself back so that he wouldn’t be left feeling as hungry as he had after that first experience. Now, in his desperation, Izuku burned everything in his stomach and was filled with so much light that he shone like a beacon. Suddenly the feeling of suffocating due to there being no air in his lungs disappeared. He felt rejuvenated and sat up, his eyes wide in shock at the relief he felt. Reaching up he grabbed the pole sticking from his chest and pulled. Luckily it was uniform so nothing caught on his flesh or obstructed his pull as he extracted the metal from his chest. As soon as it was pulled free, Izuku felt his organs, muscles, and bones knit themselves together and in moments Izuku looked through the hole in his shirt to see unblemished skin. Once he saw that, Izuku inhaled deeply filling his lungs with air, and, looking to Sera, couldn’t hold back a laugh of relief that bubbled up inside of him. He grinned brightly and leaped to his feet once again filled with the feeling of lightness that came with his powers being active.

“I’m okay,” Izuku said as he laughed.

Sera’s face matched his own as she grinned, “Yep, the light can heal you from nearly any injury as long as you have enough.”

Paying attention to her words Izuku felt inside of himself and took notice that his store of light had dipped noticeably at the amount of light he had used to heal himself.

“Ok, so I am not invincible,” Izuku said, “If I get hurt regularly for long enough I would run out of light and no light means no healing. I will have to take note of that.” Once he finished his analysis however Izuku looked up to the top of the wall. “While I have this light, though, how about we use it.”

Running toward the wall Izuku launched himself up and the enhanced strength let him easily reach the top of the wall in a single jump. Looking around, Izuku didn’t see Nagai anywhere and figured that the boy must have run away in fear of being blamed for the death of a classmate. A part of Izuku wanted to take off and chase the boy down, to continue the fight they had been having. The desire made Izuku pause, he hadn’t been filled with this much light since the day he formed the bond with Sera and he now felt that while the light filled him it gave him a sense of confidence and a desire to move and act. It was like a caffeine high turned up to eleven. Izuku thought for a moment and realized one of the reasons Katsuki had been so mad at him was probably because he must have come off as rather cocky when he had been in the middle of fighting the sludge villain. 

Taking another calming breath Izuku reigned in the impulsiveness he was now feeling. Luckily the feeling was manageable but that was probably because he had used so much light to heal from the wound he had received. Izuku would have to be careful about how much light he filled himself with, both because of the hunger he was sure to feel when he used it up, as well as the lowered inhibitions it seemed to give him. Turning back to the beach, he saw Sera watching him curiously, but he smiled reassuringly at her.

“What was that punishment you gave me again? Three washing machines?”

Sera smiled back at him, “Now that you are using light that won’t be challenging enough, you will need to move four washing machines and a fridge.”

Izuku smirked back, “Easy,” he said before jumping back down to the beach to begin working. As he started looking for appliances to bring to the stairs Izuku couldn’t help but think to himself. “School tomorrow is going to be even more awkward.”


	5. Chapter 5

Izuku stretched his arms over his head as he looked out over the beach. Mr. Yagi had just left with the last load of the evening, so Izuku planned to start heading home soon. As he contemplated this, a breeze blew in from the ocean making him shiver as it touched the sweat on his bare torso. He looked down at his chest and his hand idly rubbed the center of it. There was no scar, no blemish, no sign that he had been impaled just a few hours ago. No sign that he had almost died… 

He had been able to easily avoid thinking about the event while filled with the light that came from his bond, but when it drained, the memory began to feel like a ledge that hung over a bottomless pit of panic. He pushed the thoughts away by focusing on his work. Though as his light had continued to dissipate it became impossible to ignore the sticky, wet feeling of the blood-soaked fabric clinging to his chest and the chilling caress of the air that came in through the holes in the front and back. That was why he had taken off his shirt and thrown it into one of the loads that Mr. Yagi took to the dump.

* * *

When Mr. Yagi had arrived and saw Izuku, he had given a shout of alarm which turned into a coughing fit that left the man gasping for air as he spat out red-tinted globules of phlegm. 

“Midoriya my boy, what happened? Why are you covered in blood?” Toshinori shouted worriedly.

Izuku was at a loss for words as he tried to think of what to say. As much as the bully may deserve it, Izuku didn’t want Nagai to get in trouble for what had happened. Something like this could brand someone as a villain for life in modern society, and Izuku hadn’t sustained any lasting damage, physically at least.

“When we arrived here Izuku was-” Sera began but was cut off by Izuku.

“I had an accident,” Izuku said, putting on his best, embarrassed smile, “I fell and, unfortunately, a piece of rebar was in the way, and this happened.”

Mr. Yagi looked at Izuku suspiciously and Sera stared at him in disbelief.

“What are you doing?” Sera hissed quietly, “You got seriously hurt because of that jerkwad and he left you here to die. Why are you not telling the truth?”

“I can’t do that to him,” Izuku whispered back, “What happened was an accident, and if it got out he would be ruined for life. I can’t take away his chance for a better future.”

Sera fumed, her face showing frustration with her bondmate, “You are too noble for your own good,” she finally said before zipping away as a ribbon of light.

“What was that about?” Toshinori said as he came closer to Izuku.

“She is frustrated with me for getting hurt,” Izuku said, feeling bad about the half-truth but still thinking it was the right thing to do.

“Regardless,” Toshinori said, “your shirt shows that you lost a lot of blood, how are you still standing?”

“Oh, um” Izuku stalled, “I-I learned about a new aspect of my quirk. Apparently the light heals me when I am filled with it. Look,” Izuku pulled his shirt up, “I don’t even have a scar. It must also regenerate lost blood, though I am starting to feel the hunger that comes when I fill myself with so much light.”

“Well then, you should take a rest and eat something,” Toshinori said, pointing with his thumb back to the parking lot.

The two of them walked back to the truck, Izuku grabbing his bag on the way so that he could pull out one of the Tupperware containers his mother had filled. It had rice with a piece of fish, and he smiled when he saw that all of the ingredients were listed on the lid for him. As he pulled out the Tupperware he recorded the food in his journal, planning to note how filling it was. He still didn’t know how food interacted with his powers exactly so for now he was just recording everything he ate hoping to find a pattern.

“So you can regenerate using your power,” Toshinori said as Izuku ate, “You need to be extra careful with an ability like that. There have been many heroes who thought they were invincible because they could heal from wounds, and got themselves killed when someone was able to either disrupt their quirk or attack them in some indirect way.”

“I know,” Izuku said seriously, “when I was healing I could feel the light inside of me draining away as it took care of the wound. I am guessing that if I take too much damage with too little light stored up I could still be permanently injured.” Panic threatened to well up inside of him, but Izuku mentally fought the feeling back as he changed the subject. “B-but hey, w-won’t strength training be way easier now. I can lift a bunch of stuff then use a little light to speed up the recovery period.”

“Sorry kid but there are no shortcuts for you,” Toshinori said back flatly, his arms forming an “x.” “You don’t have a scar which means that you are regenerating, not healing. It is an important distinction when it comes to quirks. You aren’t using the body's natural processes to heal but instead being healed supernaturally so your muscles would be returned to how they were before the damage was done, not develop further.”

“Oh,” Izuku said, disappointed at the discovery, “oh well, that just means I will still need to work extra hard to catch up to everyone else and be ready for the UA entrance exam.”

Toshinori smiled at the boy’s enthusiasm, but hesitated at his words, “you sure you want to keep working today, after your ‘accident’.” The way the man said the word made it clear that he wasn’t convinced by the boy’s story.

“Yes,” Izuku said immediately, “I can’t afford to take a day off, not at the very beginning of my training.” In actuality Izuku felt that he needed the work, he needed to distract himself so he could push the panic back. Was it healthy? Probably not, but he didn’t know how to deal with the overwhelming feeling so he would ignore it, for now. 

* * *

As he finished the day’s training, Izuku felt like he had successfully pushed the feeling down enough that he could function. Turning away from the beach Izuku walked to his bag and pulled out his towel, then put the bag over his shoulder and wrapped himself in the towel for a bit of modesty. During his trek home. Sera zipped up to him, her face expressionless. 

“I see you are still upset,” Izuku said.

“Of course I am upset. You are letting that bully off the hook after he nearly killed you,” Sera said flatly.

Izuku shivered, her words causing the feelings Izuku had repressed to rattle the cage he had put them in. “I know why you feel that way, but this is the right thing to do. Yubi isn’t a villain yet, he is a bully, he can still change, and I hope that the experience he just had helps him.”

“And what about the experience you just had?!” Sera shouted back.

“I can deal with it!” Izuku shouted, before gritting his teeth and walking away.

“Liar,” Sera said as she watched Izuku walk away with sad eyes before she started to follow.

* * *

Izuku’s alarm clock went off at 5:00 AM only for him to immediately turn it off. He hadn’t slept the night before. Every time he closed his eyes the panic was waiting for him, poised to strike the moment he let his guard down. He pulled himself out of bed feeling exhausted but forced himself to keep moving. He followed his usual routine of warm-up exercises then changed into workout clothes and left his room, grabbing his wallet as he went. Making his way through the house as silently as possible, he thought about how his mom had reacted when he had gotten home last evening. She had been shocked that he hadn’t been wearing a shirt, but Izuku explained that his shirt had been ruined while he was working. She had tried to pry more into what had happened but Izuku had deflected her questions and assured her that he was fine. As hard as he tried however she still had a look of worry on her face when he had bid her good night before going to his room. He hoped to avoid her this morning until he had the chance to wake himself up more so she wouldn’t realize that he hadn’t slept.

On his way to the beach, Izuku stopped at a vending machine and purchased two cans of coffee, downing one and saving the other for later. As he ran, Sera appeared as a ribbon of light again, it was her favorite form for moving quickly. When she was next to him, she morphed into her girl form and eyed him with worry clear in her features. 

“Izuku, you aren’t well,” she cautioned.

“I’ll be fine,” Izuku said as he jogged to the beach, “it will pass, it always has before.”

“This isn’t the same and you know it.” Sera said, “I have seen you be sad because of the bullying and the names, and you may have gotten over it, but that was because you talked with me, or wrote it down, but this isn’t just sadness, you have never a full night without sleep before. Why are you hiding what you are going through?”

“I told you, I don’t want to ruin Yubi’s life,” Izuku said.

“No,” Sera rebutted, “you could have told the truth to Mr. Yagi or your mom and left out the details about who did it, or just told them you didn’t want to get him in trouble, but instead you lied.”

“I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true,” Izuku responded.

“But you avoided saying the whole truth so you would be misunderstood, lies of omission are still lies.” Sera gave Izuku a disappointed look. Which the green-haired boy shied away from.

Izuku didn’t say anything else choosing to avoid the argument with the spren. He knew that she was right, but there was something in Izuku that made him want to deal with this himself. He had powers now. He should be able to handle this on his own. Heroes faced danger all the time and you never saw them giving into panic. He wanted to be a hero, so he couldn’t let anything stop him. Just as All Might said on the roof that day, about how he covered his pain with a smile, Izuku would follow his example. When he got to the beach, Izuku worked himself as hard as he could. He focused on the burn in his muscles and the feel of the junk as he moved it from the piles on the beach to the stairs where it would be hauled away that afternoon. And all the while the panic lurked in the shadows of his mind waiting for him to drop his guard.

* * *

The silence between Izuku and Sera continued for the rest of the morning. The teen finished his workout and drank the second can of coffee as he started for home. Upon arriving he gave his mother, who was up and preparing breakfast, a quick greeting before heading to the bathroom to wash up. He took extra care while washing his face, making sure to use cold water around his eyes to try and shrink the dark circles caused by his lack of sleep. Once he was ready for school he went out to eat breakfast which he did at a hurried pace, claiming that he wanted to be early for school. Throughout the meal Sera stayed by Izuku’s side, silent and emotionless. The spren’s odd behavior had prompted a comment from Inko but Sera had just replied,

“Ask Izuku,”

Izuku deflected his mother’s questions, saying that Sera and he had a disagreement yesterday and that they would work it out later. He left shortly after that with a cheery goodbye and a comment thanking her for the extra food she was preparing.

During the walk to school, the spren’s unresponsive behavior created an awkward atmosphere between the two partners. Izuku would try to talk to her about several topics, such as what they should name their quirk when they got it registered, something that had slipped Izuku’s mind the night before, or how her search for a weapon was going, but the spren was impassive to all his attempts at starting a conversation. In the end, he gave up deciding that he would have to wait for her to open up again before communication would continue. As he walked, Izuku’s mood darkened further without the spren’s bright attitude to lighten his day.

The toll that the change took on Izuku’s nerves intensified further as he approached the school building and began to contemplate how he would face Nagai when he saw the long-fingered boy again. When he walked into his classroom it was mostly empty but that was to be expected as he was about 45 minutes early for the first period of the day. Taking his seat Izuku pulled out his notebook and started reviewing his notes on heroes and his own quirk. Every time the door opened, he would look up with his breath hitched only to sigh in relief when it wasn’t Nagai. Izuku was shocked, however, when he looked up once more to see that the teacher had arrived. Scanning the class Izuku confirmed that Nagai Yubi was absent. He had even seen Katsuki arrive but the explosive boy only had one of his usual followers. As the teacher began his lesson Izuku couldn’t help the question that bubbled to the surface of his thoughts. Where was Nagai? After the first two periods ended and the long-fingered boy was nowhere in sight, Izuku relaxed slightly thinking he could make it through the day without a confrontation. Then, halfway through the penultimate period of the day, he started to feel his security evaporating as the disheveled form of the bully threw the door open and sauntered into the classroom.

“Hey teach,” the boy said in a lazy drawl, “sorry I’m late but I couldn’t bring myself to care this morn-”

The boy’s cocky speech halted when his gaze landed on Izuku. His eyes widened and all the color drained from his face like he was looking at a ghost.

“Mr. Yubi!” the teacher said sharply, breaking the long-fingered boy’s trance from seeing Izuku, “I know that if you are showing up this late you must have already spoken to the office, so I expect you to take your seat and join us for the rest of class, am I understood.”

“Y-yeah sure,” The boy said, his nonchalant attitude gone as he moved to his desk.

Izuku refocused on the teacher when the lesson continued. Seeing the other boy’s reaction had helped him feel... he wasn’t sure if better was the right word, but definitely different. Nagai had been just as scared by what was to come as Izuku had been and seeing it in his face helped Izuku to feel some relief, and begin to wonder if maybe he could muscle his way through the rough time he was having. That slight relief made finishing the day much easier and when the last class ended Izuku quickly gathered his things so that he could get to the beach and continue his training. As he made his way through the halls, however, Izuku was suddenly stopped by someone grabbing his shoulder, turning him around, and pushing him against the wall. When his vision stopped spinning Izuku was face to face with the wild eyes of Nagai Yubi.

“Wh-what… h-how… I killed you.” The boy babbled out as he held onto Izuku. The boy’s grip was tight but he was holding on to Izuku in a way that it was unclear if he was threatening the other teen or trying to make sure he was real. The tone in his voice was also a confusing mix of relieved and angry.

But Izuku wasn’t fully listening. The sudden action had broken the unconscious hold he had on the emotions inside of himself, and now that it was free, it ran rampant through his mind. Perceiving the boy in front of himself as a threat, the feelings manifested as rage. Burning some of the food he had eaten for lunch Izuku filled himself with enough light that he just barely began to glow, but it was all he needed to give him the strength to easily rip the other boy’s hands off his jacket and then spin them both around to reverse their positions. Though when he held Nagai against the wall, he took it a step further and lifted the other boy so that his feet dangled uselessly above the ground. 

“Stop it Yubi!” Izuku said insistently, “Haven’t you done enough. You nearly killed me and you would have if I hadn’t unlocked my quirk.” The other boy stared at Izuku dumbly, his white face showing how shocked he was at the current situation. “I was planning to meet someone else at that beach, they would have found me and, given the fact that we fought, I was covered in evidence that would have pointed the investigation straight to you. If you don’t shape up, all that is waiting for you in the future is the life of a two-bit villain that barely gets mentioned on the news. You are a junior high student, you are nowhere near the top of the food chain, so wake up!”

When he finished speaking Izuku just stared at the boy in his grip with glowing green eyes until finally, Nagai’s head began to nod up and down.

“Ok, ok,” he said repeatedly in a fearful whisper.

With that Izuku released the bully letting him drop to the ground. The long-fingered boy walked around Izuku, never turning his back on him until he was well out of arm’s reach, then he turned and bolted down the hallway.

“Wow,” Sera said, reappearing at Izuku’s shoulder, she had decided to make herself invisible to everyone, including him, about halfway through the day but apparently she had never been far. Now here she was again and her face beamed with pride. “You did it Izuku, I knew that you could stand up to those bullies if you just believe in yourself.” She waited for a response but none came so she focused back on her partner. “Izuku?”

Again, Izuku wasn’t listening. With no outside target, the overwhelming emotion had morphed back into panic and turned inward. Unbidden, memories flooded Izuku’s head in a feedback loop of terror. The rebar piercing his chest, the feeling of suffocation as he tried to inhale but couldn’t, the smell of sewage-filled slime as it invaded his mouth and nose, wriggling as it pushed further and further into him. The fear of thinking he was going to die, of having his consciousness slip from his grasp as he desperately clung to it, hoping that someone would save him. Izuku’s eyes darted about looking at, but not seeing, the hallway, only searching for where the next attack would come from. It was too open here, it wasn’t safe. On autopilot, Izuku bolted down the halls looking for somewhere, anywhere he could be safe. Finally, he saw the small dark space under the stairs. Like a child, he dove into it and curled up with his knees in his chest as he took deep gasping breaths but never felt like he could get enough air. A part of his mind registered that someone was calling his name but he couldn’t focus on it, all that existed was the terror.

* * *

Katsuki Bakugou, sighed as he stood from his desk. He had decided to finish up his homework before leaving today. A part of him had wanted to scold that slacker Nagai for showing up so late; after all, people often associated Nagai with himself so he couldn’t let the other boy act in a way that would tarnish his reputation, but the long-fingered boy had left as soon as the bell rang so Katsuki put it off for later. Throwing his bag over his shoulder Katsuki thought about what he would do that evening. His other underling had left earlier as well so he would probably go for a run then hit the weights in his garage. As annoying as his parents could be, he did appreciate that they supported him on his path to becoming the next number one hero, and had bought him some high-quality training equipment. As Katsuki exited the room and entered the hall however he heard something, 

“Help, please”

The voice was quiet but he could tell that it was coming from the stairs down the hall. Katsuki’s initial reaction was to ignore the call but, for some reason, the voice sounded familiar so he decided to check it out to sate his curiosity. As he walked down the hall the call got louder leading him to the stairs and Katsuki blinked in surprise at seeing the small blue form of the fairy that was supposedly part of Deku’s quirk. Katsuki’s eyebrow raised and he came closer until the fairy spotted him and a look of anger came over her face.

“No,” she insisted, “you go away, you will only make things worse.”

Katsuki’s eyebrow twitched. Who did this little blue twerp think she was trying to tell him what to do?

“One side, Navi,” Katsuki grunted as he walked past her to peek under the stairs. 

As Katsuki expected, Deku was there and he was glowing slightly in the shadow of the staircase. But Katsuki’s focus was instead on the state of the other boy. Deku was curled up and shivering as he gasped for breath. What grabbed his attention the most were the green-haired boy’s eyes. They were wide with fear, the pupils dilated and darting in every direction but never focusing on anything. They were nearly indistinguishable from the way his own eyes had looked just last Saturday.

A few people had asked why Katsuki had missed classes at the end of last week and he had kindly told them all to mind their own damned business. The truth was that he had missed that Saturday because he was in a state very similar to Deku’s current one. Though he hadn’t been curled up like a wuss, instead he had sat in his bedroom brooding as a proper protagonist should. Still, the panic had been real. As much as he still claimed that Deku didn’t help, a small, honest part of himself realized that before Deku had run into the situation Katsuki had been on his last leg. Without the other boy distracting the villain, Katsuki would have become a lifeless meat puppet for however long it would have taken All Might to arrive. And the feeling of being suffocated, of losing control of his own body and the powerful quirk that he was so proud of had been so frightening that for the entire weekend Katsuki had been nearly catatonic. It was thanks to his loving parents and his own indomitable will that Katsuki had been well enough to return to school on Monday. Now, here Katsuki was being confronted with that same weakness, seeing another person go through something similar, and Katsuki hated it. So, he decided to go with his tried and true response: explosive anger.

“What do you think you’re doing Deku?” Katsuki said as he approached the other boy.

Deku gave no response which only served to anger Katsuki more. Grabbing the other boy’s upper arms Katsuki hauled him to his feet. 

“Hey, I am talking to you,” again no response. 

Frustrated, but smart enough to realize he needed to calm the other boy down if he wanted to get in a proper scolding, Katsuki placed his hands on the side of Izuku’s head and met the other boy’s eyes.

“Deku, breathe you useless waste of space. You have to breathe.” As he said this Katsuki began to breathe deeply in a controlled rhythm. Izuku slowly began to mirror him and gradually his eyes focused until Katsuki could tell he was actually seeing what was around him.

“Good,” Katsuki said, “Now, what the hell was that Deku!” 

The sudden change in tone made Izuku jump slightly.

“Just yesterday you were going on about how nothing could stop you getting into UA and now some garbage villain attack has you curled up under the stairs like a frightened civilian. Get a handle on yourself or give up on being a hero.” With his piece said Katsuki turned away with a scoff and left down the hallway muttering

“Useless Deku, making me take time out of my day. What a waste of space…”

* * *

Izuku stood dumbfounded as the explosive teen marched away.

“Did Kacchan just… help me?” Izuku thought to himself.

“Izuku, I was so worried. He didn’t hurt you did he?,” Sera suddenly zoomed into Izuku’s field of view, her face filled with concern.

“No, he didn’t,” Izuku said, still looking after the other boy with a puzzled expression. Then shaking his head he turned to Sera. As he watched her for a moment, Izuku came to terms with what had happened. He had a panic attack. He was no stranger to anxiety but this was much more intense. He had thought he could hold it in but one shock was all it took to trigger those memories to take control of him. He was past it, for now, but he could tell that the problem wasn’t solved. 

“I’m sorry Sera,” Izuku said, “you were right, I’m not ok.” As he spoke Izuku began to feel tears in his eyes. “I was so scared. I have almost died twice in less than a week, and I don’t know if I can handle it.” 

Sera’s eyes filled with sympathy for the boy in front of her and she floated forward and landed on her shoulder in the hopes that her presence would help bring some form of comfort. 

“Izuku, you need to talk to someone. Part of strength is knowing when to get help.”

“Who can I talk to?” Izuku asked, “No one I know has experience with this.”

Sera, smiled chidingly, “What are you talking about, silly? You know the best person to talk about stuff like this with.”

Izuku looked confused for a moment before he laughed at himself, “Oh, right.”

* * *

Toshinori grunted as he carried another piece of junk up the stairs to the waiting truck. With a small shout, he heaved it up and into the truck bed then stretched out his back.

“Who even throws away a shelving unit?” He asked rhetorically as he surveyed his latest load.

Sighing, he looked back at the beach. It looked barely changed, but the hero didn’t let it dishearten him. Midoriya and he had only been working for a few days, and with All for One needing to be reserved for emergencies he knew that this project would be labor- and time-intensive. 

Thinking about Midoriya made the man glance down the path that led to the parking lot worriedly. He had arrived a bit earlier than usual today but he still expected the boy to get here before him. Toshinori hoped that everything was ok, the events of the previous day still worried him, and he feared that the boy was in danger. Over the years, it had become ingrained in Toshinori’s subconscious that anyone he got close to would be targeted by his greatest enemy, and even though he believed the threat had been neutralized his old paranoia still plagued him.

As he was pondering his past, Toshinori spotted a figure approaching the parking lot. The hero cursed his lack of enhanced senses as he squinted in the hopes of discerning the identity of the approaching figure. He was unsure of who it was because it looked like the person was wearing dark clothing, and Midoriya’s workout gear was usually white or some other bright color, but he believed he saw a small blue glow which looked like it could be Sera. After a few moments more Toshinori sighed in relief as the figure resolved into the form of his young friend. The worry quickly returned, however, when he saw the fatigue that filled the boy’s face.

“Midoriya, my boy,” The hero called when Izuku was close enough, “what happened?”

“All Might, can I talk to you about something?” Midoriya said, making Toshinori raise an eyebrow in surprise. Ever since they had introduced themselves to each other the boy had called him Mr. Yagi, now he was back to using his hero name.

“Of course, my boy,” All Might responded, “let’s have a seat over there and talk.”

Toshinori and Izuku sat side by side in the same spot they had used during their first meeting on the beach. When they were both settled, Toshinori waited patiently for his companion to speak. After a minute of silence, the boy started talking.

“All Might, I am sorry but, I lied yesterday.” Izuku explained, “What happened was an accident, but I wasn’t by myself. One of the boys from school followed me here, he thought I was showing too much attitude after I got my quirk and wanted to remind me of my place. You know?”

Izuku paused looking to Toshinori to see if he was listening, The hero nodded his head to show he had heard and said, “I can imagine,” prompting the boy to continue.

“A-anyway, we f-fought a little and I got pushed, and I was t-t-too close to the edge so I fell and there was a piece of metal that… that…” 

“It’s ok Midoriya, I already saw the aftermath yesterday, you don’t need to describe it,” Toshinori said quickly. The boy looked at him gratefully. He was obviously still terrified because of what happened.

“It’s not only that though, just last Saturday, with the sludge villain. Before you showed up to save me I felt the same fear. Two times in less than a week I have almost died. How do you deal with it?” Izuku started to sound slightly hysterical as he spoke, “I tried to do what you said on the roof, how you hide it with your smile, but it just came out and I couldn’t hold it back. All I could think about was that I was going to die.”

Toshinori winced as guilt flashed through him, both at the fact that the sludge villain had attacked Izuku because it was fleeing him and that the boy had taken his words so literally.

“Midoriya,” Toshinori said, grabbing the boy’s attention, “That is a very good question for someone who hopes to be a hero to ask, but first you need to understand two things. One, neither of those events were your fault. The sludge villain attacked you because he was running from me, which I apologize for, I should have been more careful when fighting a villain like him, and in the events of yesterday you were assaulted by a classmate.”

Izuku suddenly interrupted, “No, it was an accident, he isn’t at fault, he had no way of knowing that the metal was there.”

Toshinori raised a hand palm out to calm the boy down, “Very well, in that case, it was an accident so no one is truly at fault. What you must understand is that you shouldn’t put any blame on yourself. The second thing you need to understand is that the feelings you are going through in response to those incidents are normal. You had two harrowing experiences in a very short timespan. The panic and fear you must be feeling are the same types of emotion anyone would feel, even me. How do you think I felt after receiving the wound that has left me in my current state. I had to go a few days before I could sleep at all and then it was only fitfully. You are not alone in how you have responded. Did I explain that well?”

Izuku looked at the older hero in awe before tears started to collect in his eyes. He scrunched his eyes shut and wiped furiously as he spoke, “Yes, yes I understand, and thank you.”

Toshinori placed a comforting hand on the boy’s back and nodded solemnly. He let Izuku have a minute to get his emotions back under control before continuing to speak.

“Now, Midoriya, I feel that I need to apologize as well for my words on the roof. I didn’t mean that I always hide the pain I feel under a smile. In the moment of the conflict, yes I do hide all the fears I face. Fear that I won’t be good enough, that people will die, that the villain will be too strong. I hide the fear in those moments for the sake of those I am there to protect. But afterward, when the villain is beaten, if I didn’t let those fears out I would be no good for anyone. When we bottle up the negative emotions caused by our experiences they do not go away. Instead, they fester like a wound. Even though a person may be healthy physically, mentally they can be torn apart. It is essential for a hero to learn how to heal mentally because they face off against the worst that life has to offer. I have friends I can confide in who will listen to my pains and fears and help me recover. You need to find people like that. People who believe in you and will help you through your hardship. I would be honored to be there for you when available but find as many as you can because the larger your support structure, the better you will be able to help others.”

Toshinori paused so that his words could sink in. This lesson was an important one for heroes to learn. Especially if they were as empathetic as Izuku was. Many heroes never made it past a few years in the profession because they failed to find the proper support or develop a healthy coping mechanism. Most hero agencies even had a psychologist or two on staff so that the heroes and sidekicks always had someone to go to when they were in need.

“All Might, I mean, Mr. Yagi,” Midoriya said, making the hero focus on the boy again, “Can I still be a hero? I have felt so weak because of the fear, and I am just not sure anymore,”

Toshinori didn’t answer right away. He wanted to reassure Izuku, but he needed to do it in the correct way. Just saying yes with no reasoning wouldn’t calm the doubt that had entered the boy’s heart.

“Midoriya, when you described the events of yesterday’s accident, your first instinct was to protect the identity of the other boy involved. Even though you were in pain you still worried for his well-being. That lets me know that, even with everything you are going through, you will become a great hero.”

Izuku was silent once more before saying, “Thanks Mr. Yagi,”

That evening the two heroes didn’t get any more work done on the beach. Instead, they sat watching as the day passed into night and let Izuku heal. As the sky began growing dark the teen bid the older man farewell and began heading toward his home. As Izuku walked away Toshinori couldn’t help but watch the teen and shake his head in regret that he couldn’t have made the boy his successor, yet at the same time he was happy that he had come to know the promising young hero.

* * *

As Izuku walked home he pondered the words of wisdom he had received from his friend and idol. He was better, but he could still feel the dregs of the panic. It was like Mr. Yagi had said he had been wounded mentally and it would take time to heal, and Izuku had come to accept that. As he walked his eyes moved to the glowing figure of Sera at his side.

“You know I think I am the luckiest person to ever dream of being a hero,” Izuku said.

“Why’s that?” Sera asked, looking curiously at Izuku.

“Because I will always have a partner who will be there to help me through everything.” Izuku stated, “I am sorry for not listening to you before Sera, you were right, I shouldn’t have held it in.”

“I forgive you,” Sera said with a kind smile, “We are both still learning, and as long as we keep moving forward we will become the best heroes we can be.”

“Right,” Izuku agreed.

They walked a few steps more before Sera perked up.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Smiling, she started floating in front of Izuku’s face as he walked. “While you were talking with Mr. Yagi, I found the perfect thing for your weapons training. It’s buried in one of the piles of junk though”

Izuku smiled at her excitement, “Then tomorrow we will have to dig it out.”

Izuku’s smile then turned a bit nervous, “At least I hope we will be able to go back to the beach tomorrow. I am worried that when I come clean to Mom she will ban me from ever going near there again.”

“Don’t worry Izuku,” Sera comforted him, “she is your biggest support so I am sure she wouldn’t do anything to block your progress.”

“We’ll see” Izuku sighed. 


	6. Chapter 6

Izuku inhaled deeply as he tried to empty his mind. His hand gripping his staff a bit more tightly as he focused on the feeling of the cool metal. Holding the breath, he waited until he felt his lungs just barely begin to ache for fresh air before exhaling and starting to spin the staff. It had been two months since the day of the Nagai incident, as he had started referring to it in his mind, and after working for all that time he had cleared out a nice little patch of sand that he used for his weapons training. The weapon in question was the object Sera had found for him after all her searching, an old length of pipe that must have been serving as a signpost or possibly as part of a fence. When he had found it, it wasn’t much to look at. The metal had spots of rust and one end was still encased in concrete. He had been skeptical of the thing ever being usable but Sera had looked so excited that he had decided to at least try to save it. On his way home that evening, he had bought sandpaper and steel wool from a hardware store nearby and researched late into the night for how he could restore the length of metal. The next day, he got to work. He had been scared that the concrete would be the most difficult thing to deal with but during his research he had found a source that said by hitting the metal, vibrations would travel down its length and break up the concrete. He was skeptical but after giving it a few good whacks with a shorter length of discarded pipe the hunk of dried cement cracked and eventually fell away leaving only a few small bumps that were much easier to knock off. With that done, Izuku then pulled out the supplies he had purchased and sanded away the spots of rust before smoothing it out with the steel wool. When all was said and done, he was left with a metal post about 150 centimeters long and with a diameter of five centimeters.

With his new weapon found, he then started studying how to use it. He found that the staff was one of the most widely used weapons in human history so there were a plethora of possible styles to choose one. Unsure of where to start, he eventually found a video online that said a good way to familiarize oneself with the staff was to practice spinning it because, while it was impractical in actual combat, it helped the wielder learn the weight and feel of their weapon and helped to condition one’s body. So since that day Izuku always tried to spend some time spinning his staff before practicing one of the katas that he had decided to use. Over the course of the month, he had become much more comfortable with the weapon in his hand. His movements were more sure and his spinning became faster. As he practiced, sometimes Sera would join in by trailing one of the ends of the staff as it spun giving it the look of having a luminescent blue streamer attached to it. Eventually, the exercise became a calming technique for him to use when he felt anxious or stressed or when he just needed to unwind after working on moving junk for a while. There was only one unfortunate side effect of him getting better at spinning his staff…

“Honey, are you sure you should be spinning that so quickly? You could hurt yourself.”

Inko’s voice pulled Izuku out of the zone he had been in and he fumbled the metal pole making it strike the ground. He immediately pulled back so that he wouldn’t be hit as the staff swung around and bounced on the sand. Having his mother accompany him to Takoba Beach was the result of him keeping his word to tell her about the Nagai incident. She hadn’t tried to discourage him from training as he had feared, but she did say that he should find a new safer place to train. Izuku had argued that in addition to training, he was also helping to clean the beach and that completing that service helped to keep him motivated. In the end, Izuku’s mother consented to let him continue using the junk heap as a training location, but she refused to let him go unsupervised. He had agreed quickly, not wanting to risk her changing her mind. In some ways, it was nice having her there and she had even joined him in his work to restore the coast line. The issue that arose however, was that she would often fret when he did something that could be dangerous, like move a washing machine by himself or practice with his staff. Luckily, Izuku had another person there to advocate for him pushing himself like he wanted to.

“Don’t worry Mrs. Midoriya,” Toshinori’s voice called out, “Izuku has become quite skilled. I am sure he knows what he is doing.”

Izuku sighed as he heard his mother tentatively agree, though he knew that she would still be keeping an eye on him, and he reached down to pick his dropped staff up to begin his practice again. He still remembered the moment that the two adults had met and how awkward it had been. Honestly, it was his own fault. At the time that he had agreed with his mother about coming with him to the beach, he had been so relieved that she hadn’t forbidden him that Mr. Yagi had completely slipped from his mind. So the next day, when she had joined him in the afternoon after school and they were met by the skeletal visage of Izuku’s friend, she nearly panicked and dragged Izuku back home. After the initial scare, however, Inko had calmed down enough for Izuku to explain the man’s presence. Nowadays, the two had a mutual understanding of a sort. Inko was happy that there was someone who would watch over Izuku as he trained and she had seen that the man had a good heart from his desire to clean up the beach. Though, at the same time she was still made uncomfortable by the man’s unhealthy appearance, and she wasn’t sure how much she trusted that he could step in if something went wrong. For his part, Toshinori was glad to see that Izuku’s mother was supportive of her son’s dream but he didn’t like having someone there who didn’t know his secret because it made buffing up and acting on a moment’s notice much more difficult. In Izuku’s mind, was just happy to have the two of them there to support him, even though sometimes his mother was a little overprotective. Thankfully, she only came once or twice a week after she found out that Mr. Yagi was there every day, so he got the benefit of spending time with her while still getting plenty of time to really push himself. 

After spinning his staff for a few minutes more, he stopped and moved into one of his katas. Today he was practicing with a style that originated in France and involved swinging the staff from the near the end, almost like it was a large sword. When he had been researching Sera had seen this style and insisted that Izuku include it in his practices. Izuku agreed, figuring that the spren just liked how it looked. Swinging the pole around Izuku tried his best to mimic the movements from the video online. It was tough not having a teacher who could tell him whether he was doing well or not. Occasionally, Mr. Yagi would observe him and try to give pointers but, as he himself said, he didn’t have much practice with armed combat. Making a final horizontal swing, Izuku lowered the staff to the ground and let his arms rest. A moment later he lifted the metal pole and rested it on his shoulder before walking over to and up the steps that led off the beach. Placing the weapon next to the truck, Izuku then made his way back down to begin moving garbage. His usual routine had shifted since Sera had found the training weapon. He now would jog to the beach, then, when he arrived, he would stretch before putting in practice with his staff. After that, Izuku would rest for a short time before moving garbage to either the pile next to the stairs in the morning, or directly into the truck in the afternoon. 

Occasionally, he would add to the routine with some additional exercise to focus on a specific muscle group but for the most part, he worked within this system. As he got to work today he started by grabbing a few tires that were in the pile and putting his arms through them so they could sit on his shoulders as he moved quickly to the truck. As he worked, he paid careful attention to his form. Izuku had read online and also been warned by Mr. Yagi that how you lifted was just as important as what you lifted, especially if you want to avoid injury. So when it came to moving junk Izuku always made sure that most of the effort came from his legs. This was convenient because his staff training always wore his arms out. After running several loads Izuku stopped for a break and grabbed a drink from his water bottle. As he was drinking, he heard his mother’s voice.

“You know Izuku, I am surprised at how little you are using your quirk.”

The comment made Izuku pause and look at her, blinking curiously. She saw his expression and decided to explain herself,

“Well, I just figured with the fact that you have been waiting to get a quirk for so long, that as soon as you had one you would be wanting to use it at every opportunity and with all the food I have seen you eating I thought that my assumptions must have been correct.” Inko finished and looked to Izuku for a response. 

Swallowing the water in his mouth Izuku pondered what his mother was saying. It was true that he rarely used his quirk. He would occasionally practice sticking objects together, but most of his training time was spent moving garbage and training with his staff. Izuku’s mind supplied several reasons for this. Perhaps, after so long wanting to be a hero without a quirk Izuku had subconsciously decided that it was more important to train himself than his quirk. Or maybe after learning that his quirk’s regenerative factor could hamper his efforts to improve himself, he had been afraid of using it too much. Several other thoughts came out to explain the paradoxical behavior he was exhibiting, but the truth was that while Izuku loved studying and breaking down quirks, as evidenced by the notebooks he had in his bedroom, the power he held now was not a quirk. Izuku had formed a bond with an extraterrestrial, possibly even extradimensional, being that was facilitated by the timely intervention of an apparently divine entity. Izuku had thought about studying the power he now had before, he had planned on it when he asked his mother to make the extra food. But when he had sat down and started recording everything he knew so far about his powers, the information had overwhelmed and frightened him. In the end, all the extra food he had been eating was because he was hungry from working out so much and his new power was left pretty much unexplored. However, even though he realized the truth for his actions he couldn’t bring himself to share all of it with his mother. After all, it was world-shattering information, and he didn’t want his mom to think he was crazy. So he collected his thoughts and gave the most believable of his excuses.

“Well,” He said nervously, “from what I have learned of my power so far, when I use the light it multiplies my abilities so I am trying to focus on building up my natural strength so I get more power when I am using it.”

“Ok,” Inko said, accepting the explanation, “though I must say Izuku, you appear to have come quite far in the last couple of months. I would never have thought you would be able to move such heavy things with no problem, and the way you swing that metal pole around so quickly is impressive, even if it makes me nervous.

“Your mother does bring up a good point, young Midoriya,” Toshinori suddenly interjected, “You have made some impressive progress so it would probably be a good idea to also start practicing with your quirk. I remember on the day we met you used your power to stick to a wall, and you have used it to stick other things together as well. That is a useful ability but you should practice with it so you know all of its limitations.”

“Yes,” Inko agreed, “within reason that is. I don’t want you overdoing it and possibly hurting yourself.”

Izuku sighed but he didn’t meet their gazes. “Ok, you are right,” he eventually said.

* * *

That night as he lay in bed he looked over to Sera who was sitting on the edge of his desk with her feet dangling off casually swinging them back and forth. Over the last month, they had grown much closer. He would talk to her at night, sharing his thoughts, fears, and hopes and she would share her dreams for when they became heroes and her insights into what she had experienced that day. She was still an interesting mix of childish and mature though she stayed mature more often as time went on. She hadn’t been present when Mr. Yagi and his mother had been talking about using his power more, and he wasn’t sure how she would have responded. She hadn’t ever seemed discontent with the fact that he didn’t use the powers of their bond more, but Izuku feared that she might be hiding it for his sake.

“Hey Sera, do you wish that I used our powers more often while I am training?” Izuku asked, getting directly to the heart of things.

Sera looked at him curiously,

“Why do you ask?” She asked in return.

“Well,” Izuku said, sitting up in his bed, “Mom and Mr. Yagi both mentioned that I should start. Well, actually Mr. Yagi said that I should start, it was more like Mom wondered why I haven’t been doing it already with how obsessed I usually get about quirks.”

“It is out of character for you to not be constantly studying how your own powers work when you are so fascinated by everyone else’s,” Sera commented dryly.

“Ugh, I know,” Izuku grumbled out. He then paused as he thought about the reasoning he came to on the beach earlier that day for his behavior. For a moment he thought about not telling Sera the full truth but he quickly dismissed the idea, he already learned the danger of keeping something that bothered him bottled up inside. “I think the reason for it is that what we have isn’t a quirk. Not like what other people have. Most people are born with their power but I stumbled into mine and in doing so I learned that there are other worlds and that there is a god out there that somehow gave quirks to mankind and you don’t even know how you ended up here. Our entire situation is honestly a little overwhelming.” When he finished Izuku found himself breathing more deeply than he realized and for a moment he was afraid that he had been shouting. “Did I say that too loudly?” Izuku asked nervously.

“No,” Sera said placatingly, “I am sure some people in Tokyo couldn’t hear you.”

Izuku gave Sera a flat look which made her giggle. She then stood up and floated into the air to make her way over to Izuku. Coming to rest on his lap she made the motion of patting his leg comfortably and while her form was too insubstantial for him to feel her, his mind still supplied a phantom sensation of her touch and he appreciated the gesture.

“Izuku, the power that comes from the bond is yours. You get to decide how and when it is used. As long as you live up to your oaths it will always be there when you call for it.” Locking her eyes to his she then spoke seriously, “But I want you to know this. A spren does not choose their partner lightly, I may have been only semi-conscious at the time but I came to you because I saw in you the traits that I admire; the traits that make you want to be a hero. I trust you completely Izuku even if you make mistakes I know you will move heaven and earth to correct them.”

Izuku looked at Sera in teary-eyed awe when she finished. After a moment, he smiled brightly at her and wiped his eyes. 

“Wow, you are so mature today,” Izuku said absentmindedly.

Sera’s face morphed to a look of indignation and she shouted out, “What? I am always mature, you take that back.” She zipped up and began beating her tiny fists against his head in retribution, making Izuku chuckle nervously and begin to spout out apologies. Eventually, she settled back down and flew off in a huff to do her nightly wanderings while Izuku lied down to sleep.

* * *

The next morning Izuku stood on the beach with a familiar notebook in his hands once more. He poured over the previous notes he had made concerning the bond and its powers. As he read, he absentmindedly rubbed his chin and muttered quietly.

“So I know that the bond gives me the ability to strengthen myself and heal, which isn’t something I can train to get better at, I don’t think. I can also stick things together using the light, but when I have used it a few times in the past it feels like there is more to it than just that. I also need to do experiments regarding how effective each type of food is at granting me light. What am I burning from the food I eat, if anything? How long can I last on how little food? What is the most efficient foodstuff I can eat?”

“So what are you doing exactly?” Sera asked as she looked over Izuku’s shoulder at his journal.

Izuku jumped slightly at the sudden comment breaking him out of his concentration. Turning to the spren he explained.

“I am thinking about how to best go about studying and training to use my powers.” Reaching up to grab his pen from behind his ear he wrote the words “Radiant Training” and underlined it to separate it as its own section. He had finally gone to the quirk registry with his mother to update his file and the night before, he and Sera had decided to name the quirk Radiance after the order of knights that Sera had told him about when he began his training. “Our first order of business is to come up with a name for the energy that I use for them,” Izuku said as he wrote. “Just calling it light could get confusing in my notes. What was it called on your original world?” Izuku turned to Sera as he asked the last question.

The spren floated a short distance away from Izuku and assumed a thinking stance of her own. “Well on Roshar, that was the name of the world, the light was collected during highstorms so it was called stormlight.” Izuku opened his mouth to comment, but Sera continued before he could speak, “However, that light was purely of Honor, the light you produce is different because it is a mixing of both the light of Honor and of Valor.”

Izuku was quiet as he thought about the mysterious and divine being that had appeared to him and Sera, even though so much of what had happened that day faded in his memory he still remembered his interaction with the deity crisply like it had been branded onto his mind. As he pondered it a question came to his mind.

“Why are they named like that?” Izuku asked.

“What do you mean?” Sera asked back.

“Why are they named Honor or Valor? Those names feel like they have a special meaning when you say them. Like you aren’t just saying the word but the meaning behind it.” Izuku paused then spoke again, “or maybe that is backward, maybe we understand the meaning of those words because the beings exist, if they are gods then they must have existed before the creation of our language.” 

“I don’t know,” Sera responded honestly. “That deals with things far greater than I am qualified to talk about. Though I do know that where Honor was concerned he truly embodied the concept. He was a god of bonds and when he made a promise it was always kept.”

“Ok, so if we take that idea and think of the light I make as a combination of Honor and Valor... What is something that is filled with honor and valor?” Izuku eventually devolved into muttering once more trying to come up with a good name. 

Sera stared at him questioningly but she couldn’t stay silent anymore when she thought she heard the word “firefighterlight” come out of his mouth. “Izuku!” she shouted, snapping him out of his cognitive spiral. “Think about why you accepted this power in the first place. What is your dream?”

Izuku stared at her in confusion for a moment before his eyes lit up in realization. “Oh, you’re right, thanks Sera.” Opening his notebook once more Izuku turned to his new section and wrote at the top.

“Herolight”

* * *

For the rest of that morning, Izuku spent it filled with herolight as he worked. He planned to use that time as a way to become accustomed to his new strength so that he never overdid it accidentally and caused too much damage. But he once again fell to the trap of losing himself in the rush he felt when filled with the energy, and in no time his course of study shifted to how much he could lift as he gleefully hauled large stacks of trash to the stairs. He had wanted to test his limits, so he had burned as much food as he could to fill himself with light. As he worked, he thankfully still had the presence of mind to note the sensation of it all. 

Transferring food to herolight was a lot like having a fire in his stomach that burned what he ate, then instead of smoke, it let out energy that he inhaled from inside himself. The analogy didn’t make much sense but it was the best way he could describe it. He knew that he was filled with light because it felt similar to the feeling of taking as deep a breath as he could, eventually, there just wasn’t any more room inside of himself. Once the light was in his lungs it spread through his body filling him with stamina and strength. Wanting to test his limits Izuku found an old refrigerator and tried lifting it. He was easily able to get it onto his shoulders and even succeeded in lifting it completely over his head. Wanting to test himself further he pushed with all his might and launched the broken appliance from where he currently was to the pile he had been making near the stairs a distance that he guessed was at least twenty meters away. The feat made Izuku laugh in jubilation and Sera, who was nearby, joined in. It had been so long since he had been this full and he had forgotten just how exciting it felt. From then on he continued pushing himself, lifting appliances and piles of garbage. His testing culminated with him finding a broken-down truck buried in a pile of scrap and after clearing most of the pile away Izuku grabbed the front bumper and started lifting, Sera cheering him on in the background. After struggling for a bit Izuku succeeded in getting the front half of the vehicle up above his head but he was not confident that he would be able to lift it completely and even with the light pushing him to act he had sense enough to put it down and push it to the stairs instead. After two hours of working, Izuku realized he needed to get home. Stretching out his arms, even though he felt no soreness or fatigue, Izuku decided that he would now test out his speed while powered up like this.

“Ok Sera, see if you can keep up,” Izuku said playfully.

“Yeah sure,” Sera said back, “I will see you there.”

After a count of three Izuku took off at a sprint. Sera easily kept pace as she zipped along as a familiar ribbon of light. Izuku couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he felt the wind whipping through his hair. He was moving at speeds that made some of the cars on the road look like they were standing still. He wasn’t sure if he was matching the speeds that speed-specific quirks could reach, but he was definitely faster than the fastest quirkless runner on record. His joy was cut short however when a man in a dark blue jumpsuit with wooden arms landed in front of him. Izuku tried to stop but his momentum was too great. It didn’t matter though, because in short order Izuku found himself tightly bound in wooden restraints. Tracing the wood around him with his eyes, Izuku eventually followed it up to see Kamui Wood glaring at him.

“You are under arrest for illegal quirk usage.” the hero said sternly. “Now explain yourself, why were you running at such dangerous speeds.”

Izuku was shocked into silence at what had just happened. He was arrested by a hero. He had broken the law by using his quirk in a populated area without a license or a reasonable justification. Bowing as deeply as he could in his restrained position Izuku shouted out.

“I am so sorry!” The hero was taken aback slightly by the sudden apology, but Izuku didn’t see it and continued to talk, “I was training my quirk so that I could be a hero and I got caught up in using it. I just got my quirk recently and I am still unused to it sir!”

“Just got your quirk?” Kamui Wood said skeptically. Then after looking more closely at the boy and recognizing how he was shining the hero’s eyes widened in surprise. “You, you are that boy from the sludge villain incident.”

Izuku looked up sharply at that, not expecting to be recognized by the hero. “You remember me?” Izuku asked, in awe. Izuku felt the wood holding him in place pull away and the hero retracted the restraints. 

“Oh, I remember you,” Kamui Wood said in a stern voice. “I also remember that we gave you a warning about using your quirk incorrectly again.”

“I am sorry,” Izuku repeated; bowing once more, properly this time, now that he was once more on his own two feet. “I am still learning how to use my quirk and I was trying to test how fast I am.”

“What do you mean that you just got your quirk? You must be at least 13 years old.” Kamui Wood asked.

“I know, I am a late bloomer. The day of the sludge villain was the first time I had ever used my quirk.” Izuku explained sheepishly.

“It’s because of me,” Sera said, suddenly joining the conversation. Her sudden appearance startled the wood-based hero, making him back up slightly. “I am part of his quirk and he wasn’t able to fully utilize it until I had the chance to fully mature.”

This was the cover story for Izuku’s late development of a quirk that they had discussed at the same time that they had come up with the name they wanted to give it. Izuku was very nervous because this would be the first time that they ever tried to use it on someone. Both Inko and Toshinori had just accepted that Izuku was a late bloomer and never asked for further explanation. But when Izuku and Sera were coming up with the information to put on the official documents, Izuku wanted a believable excuse that he could use in case people tried to investigate him. 

“Young man,” Kamui said, his stern voice returned, “do you have any idea how fast you were going?”

Izuku didn’t say anything but after a moment of silence, it appeared that the hero actually wanted an answer. “No,” Izuku said honestly with a shameful tone.

“Exactly, the fact that your quirk is so new means you have to be twice as careful as anyone else. You were going at least 60 kilometers per hour. Running at those speeds means that you are a danger to yourself and others. One slip-up is all it takes for your chances of ever being a hero to disappear. In my time I have heard plenty of stories about people who thought they had control of their quirks and wanted to try to use them for seemingly harmless or even well-intentioned reasons, and they ended up ruining their lives and endangering others. You need to be careful, understood?” 

Izuku shrunk more and more as the hero spoke. When Kamui Woods finished he sighed and waved his hand.

“Listen, kid, you have an impressive quirk and from what I have seen a good heart. I will let you off this time, but this is strike two. If I catch wind of you messing up again that is it, kiss your dream of being a hero good-bye.”

Upon hearing that he was being let go Izuku bowed deeply once more and offered a teary, “Thank you so much.”

Kamui Wood took off a moment later and Izuku walked toward his home.

“You okay,” Sera asked as they went.

“Yeah,” Izuku eventually said, “I was so scared that I had ruined my chances. I need to be extra careful from here on out. No more filling myself with light completely. The impulse it brings is just too strong, it is like having a storm inside that makes me want to move and fight, but I lose myself to it too easily. I need to add in practice on how to better control myself so that I don’t make stupid mistakes that could lead to someone getting hurt”

* * *

Izuku’s stomach growled as he made his way to the beach. 

“Wow,” Sera said, “even I could hear that one. Why are you starving yourself again?”

“It is for the experiment,” Izuku explained ignoring the gnawing pain from his abdomen. “I have been fasting all day so that I can see what component of the foods I eat is most important for herolight generation.”

When he finished his short explanation he looked at the beach as they arrived. It had been a month since he had decided to start seriously studying his powers from the bond and with the added help of his quirk they were making good progress on clearing off the beach. There was now a strip about twenty meters wide that stretched from the stairs to the water. Every time he looked at it a sense of pride welled up in his heart because it felt like he was finally progressing toward being a hero.

“So what are you testing for today then?” Sera said, interrupting Izuku’s introspection.

Izuku sighed but explained regardless. “Ok, I have here a gram each of protein powder, and sugar, as well as 1 gram of vegetable oil and 7 grams of rice.” As he named each item he pulled out a small container from his bag. “I will be using protein powder and sugar to test if protein or carbs give me better results when converting food to herolight. Then I will use the oil and rice to test if I need fat specifically or if any calories will work.”

“So why did you choose those four things?” Sera asked.

“The protein powder and the sugar have the same amount of calories and other nutrients with the only large difference in their components being protein and carbohydrates respectively. If one gives me a significantly better result then I can confidently say that one of those two nutrients is an important component in herolight production. With the oil and rice, the rice will be my control and the oil will be how I test for fat. I want to single out those three components specifically because there are documented quirks that use each of them as essential components. In today’s test, I will consume one of the samples, burn it completely, then time how quickly I use up that amount of herolight. I can then use the times that I get to try and form some conclusions about what kinds of food I should be eating. That should help lighten some of the load on Mom.”

That was one of his biggest reasons for doing this test. His mother had been amazingly helpful during these last three months of his training. She was supportive through his time managing the effects of the trauma he had suffered when he unlocked the power, always praised him for his accomplishments, and made sure to remind him every day that she believed in him. Then on top of that, she had accepted his request for additional food and run with it. Every time he opened the fridge at home there were bounteous options to pick from and Izuku knew that couldn’t be easy or cheap. So he hoped that by finding out exactly what types of food he needed for his quirk, he could lighten her load.

Opening his notebook to the table he had created for the data from this experiment, Izuku put in the first column “Carbs,” then grabbed the container labeled as such opened it up. He had dissolved the sugar in water for ease of consumption, figuring that water wouldn’t contaminate the data due to its lack of nutrients. Downing the shot of sugar-solution he waited a moment. As he had started using his new powers more often, Izuku had learned to sense when something he ate became available to be burned for herolight. It was a unique sensation in his gut that couldn’t really be compared to anything else but, regardless, he felt as soon as the sugar was ready and burned it immediately into herolight, starting a stopwatch he had brought at the same instant. The amount of light he produced was very small, which was good for the test because he had found that a full supply of herolight could last for hours and he wanted to deal with more manageable times. He worked for about ten minutes before he was depleted, so he went to his notebook and recorded the time. He then grabbed another small container also labeled “carbs.” He had brought three samples of each substance so that he could average the times for a more accurate test. Two more iterations of the test were finished and all of them resulted in roughly equivalent outcomes. When he finished his third trial he was interrupted in his note-taking by a grunt of frustration from Sera.

“Ugh, Izuku only you could find a way to make superpowers boring. I am going to look for something interesting.” With that, she flitted off over the junk piles on the beach.

Izuku chuckled slightly then looked back to his notes. Before he could continue writing, however, he saw a shadow cover the page and looked up to see Mr. Yagi looking curiously at his notes. Another explanation of his experiment later and the man gave him an encouraging thumbs up and left him to his work. 

As the afternoon came to a close Izuku looked over his completed chart, and ate from one of the Tupperware that his mother always had ready in the fridge which he had grabbed for after his experiment was finished. 

“Izuku,” Sera’s voice called out as the spren returned from her wanderings. 

“Hi Sera,” Izuku said cheerfully, “did you find anything cool?”

“Nah, but I saw some people that looked like they were talking about the beach and that someone is cleaning it up,” She responded. “What did you find out?” 

Izuku’s face became eager at the question and he held up his chart and notes so she could see it. “From the results of the experiment, it looks like none of the nutrients themselves are particularly important. Instead, all that mattered was the calorie intake. See?” As he said this, he pointed to the average times that each bout of herolight lasted for. “In the oil and Rice experiment, both of the consumable types gave me about nine calories while both the sugar and the protein powder only had four. What’s more, I did three iterations of each of the first two tests because I only got about ten minutes of herolight from them but I only did one each of the oil and rice because they both gave me about an hour of charge. From this data, I can conclude that the most important aspect of the foods I eat are calories. So from a scientific standpoint the ability I gained from Valor to make the bond viable is the capacity to convert energy from calories to herolight.”

“Huh, neat,” Sera responded simply, making Izuku give her a flat stare. 

Packing up his notebook and now empty food containers, Izuku stood to go home for the night. He was glad that he had decided to start taking the study of his power seriously. There were so many wonderful things to discover and he could hardly wait to find out more.


	7. Chapter 7

Izuku fought against the surf as he swam laps. He was ten or twelve meters out from the beach and he constantly had to course-correct so the tide wouldn’t pull him back into shore or too far out to sea. The weather had been getting warmer so he could finally start to follow Mr. Yagi’s advice and add swimming to his workouts. As he swam he lifted his face from the water for a breath and looked to the beach to see if he had reached his turn around spot. This month he had successfully finished clearing out a swath of beach about 50 meters wide. He was using the trash heaps that still existed on either side of the clear section as markers for where to turn back as he swam so he knew that each roundtrip was roughly 100 meters. After completing his tenth lap, Izuku swam one more at a slower pace to cool down before leaving the water. He was breathing heavily as he went and the familiar burn in his muscles let him know he had a successful workout. Walking up the clear sand to where his bag was at the bottom of the stairs, Izuku stretched and rolled his shoulders to prevent stiffness from settling in. When he got to his bag, Izuku reached in and pulled out a towel and began to wipe off any excess water. A few moments later Izuku was wearing a dry shirt and had his shoes and socks back on ready to continue the garbage disposal for the day.

  
“Good form out there, Midoriya,” Izuku heard Toshinori say as the thin man carried some junk up the steps to his truck.

“Thank you, Mr. Yagi,” Izuku responded happily.

When the man made his way back down he stopped next to the youth and the two took a moment to look out over the beach at the progress they had made. 

“We are almost halfway done,” Toshinori said as the two observed their work.

“Just in time,” Izuku remarked, “when we started I had ten months until the UA entrance exam. Now we are only six months away. If we keep up this pace, then I will have a month before the exam to focus on studying and practicing for it.”

“You’re lucky you started using your quirk when you did, it sped the process up.” The older man commented before getting back to work.

Izuku blushed slightly at the comment because it reminded him of the unease he used to feel regarding his abilities. Now that he had grown so accustomed to using them, he could hardly believe that he had ever been hesitant in the past. Shaking the thought from his mind, Izuku left for the portion of the beach he had been working on this week. As he was leaving he grabbed a roll of heavy-duty bags as well. He had finished hauling away most of the big stuff yesterday so he planned to pick up the little things today. 

“Izuku,” Sera’s bright voice called to him as he walked, “are you finally done playing in the water?” 

“You know I wasn’t playing,” the teen said, giving the spren a faux stern look before the two partners smiled at each other. “Find anything interesting while you were out wasting time?”

Sera giggled at the return jab and floated along at Izuku’s side, “I saw a stray cat. I still find it so interesting how furry the animals around here are. Animals like that were very rare on Roshar.”

Izuku shuddered as he thought of what she had told him about her original world. How anyone could find the idea of giant crustaceans normal or even preferable to the fauna of earth Izuku would never understand. He had once seen images of a coconut crab and it was nightmare-inducing. Thinking about a creature similar to it but the size of an ox was too much for him. Pushing aside the topic he looked at his small ephemeral friend. She was the same as always with a bright and sunny disposition. She had started getting more memories of her homeworld, which she loved to share with Izuku, but she still seemed to have a hole in her memory surrounding how she got here. Izuku hoped to find the answer but at the same time, he dreaded it. If they found out how she got here, then she could probably use similar means to return home, and even though he was secure in their friendship, Izuku feared that she would want to leave more than she would want to remain with him. He cared about her too much to deny her something like that, so if she wanted to leave then that would be goodbye. 

“Izuku are you even listening to me?” the spren’s insistent voice pulled Izuku from his musings.

“Huh?” Izuku said reflexively.

“Jeez, what would you have done if this happened while you were a hero and a villain had snuck up on you?” Sera accused.

“Then I would have you to warn me,” Izuku responded.

“Of course you would,” Sera said back haughtily, “but you shouldn’t always rely on me you know.”

Izuku chuckled and bent down to start filling one of the bags he had with trash and Sera got back to telling him all about the exciting adventures of an alley cat.

* * *

The next day Izuku was back at work moving garbage, though, now he was once more using his powers. He had discovered as he grew more familiar with the power that it appeared to have two aspects. The first was the familiar one that he had seen Sera use since he was a child. Which Sera had told him was called adhesion. It was essentially the ability to bind objects together and it worked by using herolight as a glue between two objects or surfaces. The application of herolight could be done by either touch or from a distance though with a greater distance the process became less efficient as the herolight dissipated into the surrounding air. The bond that was made was incredibly strong. Izuku had tested it one day with a broken chair, he had sprayed the retaining wall with Light and stuck the chair to it, then climbed up onto the chair. Even with his whole weight on it, the chair hadn’t moved. He had even tried jumping on it but stopped when the seat started to crack. As far as he could tell, an adhesion bond would only end when the herolight ran out or he pulled it back into himself.

The second ability was called gravitation, if Sera’s memory was to be believed, and with it Izuku could alter the pull of gravity. Izuku had discovered this power as he made more and more use of herolight. He began to sense that there seemed to be two channels inside of him that he could push the light through to alter how it affected what he pushed it into. The first one was familiar and activated adhesion. After some practice, however, he eventually learned how to use the second and managed to use the new power on a tennis ball he had found amidst the junk. Not knowing what else to do, he tried placing the ball on the wall in front of him. He wasn’t sure what to expect but was shocked when he let go to see the ball rolling up the wall. Picking the ball back up, Izuku held it in his fist and noticed that instead of the familiar pull of the ball’s weight down onto his hand, he felt the ball pulling to the side. Opening his hand he watched in wonder as the ball fell to the wall and bounced as if it had fallen to the ground. He had then tried using the power on himself, he knew that he could make himself stick to walls with adhesion from his experience on the day he had first met Toshinori on the beach, but to leave the wall he had needed to cancel the power. With this new ability, Izuku was able to walk on the wall as though it were the floor. 

This discovery had led to a lot of speculation concerning what he could do with this power, because if he could make himself walk on walls, then what would happen if he were to reverse gravity on himself completely. As much as he wanted to experiment with the power, however, he held himself back for now. He didn’t want to accidentally send himself rocketing through the air and force Kamui Wood to follow through with his threat so all thoughts of flight were placed on hold, for now. Today, instead, he was planning to test if it was possible to mix the two aspects of his power and if it was, find out what the results were. Izuku studied the piece of junk that he planned to use in the experiment. It was an old wooden table leg that had lost any paint or stain after the time it had spent on the beach. As he studied it Izuku tried to theorize what the results could be.

“Though they appear completely distinct, adhesion and gravitation can be seen as complementary forces. Maybe it will but create a stickyobjectthatfallsinaspecificdirectionandbutthatwouldn’treallybemixingthepowersjustapplyingthembothtotheobjectSerasaysthatthenatureofthepowersisn’tcompletelyliteralandthattheyinsteadinteractwiththespiritualconceptsofadhesionandgravitationbutshedoesn’tevenknowwhatthatmeanswellenoughtoexplainitsoIamcompletelylost,maybeIshouldjustgiveupcompletelyonthisideabuttherehastobesomereactionIjusthopeitdoesn’tcreatesomekindofsupermassiveblackholethatsucksalllifeinandendstheworldasweknowit,nostopIcan’tbesopessimisticmaybeitwillinstead…” 

“Izuku!” Sera suddenly shouted directly in his ear, “you’re mumbling again.”

“What?” Izuku blinked as he was pulled from his cognitive spiral. “Oh sorry.”

“No worries, you are getting better at not doing it so often. You are just lucky there are no logicspren around here or you would be swarmed by them all the time.” Sera said with a smile.

Izuku smiled through his confusion at the topic, though he could somewhat piece together what she meant from what he had learned about her homeworld, and decided to ask her about their planned experiment 

“Do you know what will happen if I mix the two?”

“Nope,” She responded quickly, “I remember vaguely that these powers were called surges and that each order of the knights radiant had access to two of them, but I can’t remember anything about combining the powers.”

“Oh well,” Izuku said, accepting that his friend’s memory was still incomplete, “here goes nothing.” 

Grabbing the table leg from one end he channeled herolight through both conduits at once before pushing both streams into the piece of wood. He felt the two slightly altered streams of energy mix and Izuku quickly cut off the power, not wanting whatever resulted to be too strong to control. Normally when he used his power it resulted in the object he had imbued glowing with herolight while being affected by either adhesion or gravitation, the effects of his powers ending if he either reabsorbed the Light or if the Light completely dissipated over time. When he finished imbuing the table leg, however, it was different. Instead of being luminescent with herolight the end of the wood was darker, like the light around it was getting sucked in. It wasn’t pitch dark and in shadow you might not notice it at all but in the bright rays of the sun, it was noticeable enough. Making a mental note of the effect for later, Izuku then moved on to the next test and placed the table leg against the retaining wall to see if it would stick, and nothing happened. He tapped the table leg against the wall a few more times and again there was no discernible difference than if he hadn’t placed any power into it at all. Discouraged by the lack of any significant finding Izuku dropped the table leg to go write down what had happened. As soon as he let go of the object, however, Izuku saw that the light dimming effect vanished. Normally if he didn’t consciously drain the herolight the glow would stay in an object for at least a minute or two. Having the effects of his power end immediately was new and Izuku quickly grabbed the table leg and inspected it.

“What happened, what’d I miss?” Sera asked at Izuku’s sudden reaction.

“Whatever the effect that mixing the two surges has, apparently, requires touch to operate. Why would that be? Could it be that it needs a constant influx of new Light to stay active? no, I charged enough herolight for it to have run for at least a minute or two. Maybe I need to be in contact to balance the two distinct signatures of each surge, that is possible though there is no way to make a control to test if it is true-”

“Sounds like you need to do more tests,” Sera said, preventing Izuku from falling into another muttering spree.

Izuku looked to Sera then smiled. “Always,” He said cheerfully.

Running to grab his notebook, Izuku held the table leg under his arm so that he could record his current findings as well as some of the hypotheses that he hoped to test. When he finished writing, Izuku placed his pen behind his ear and grabbed the piece of wood keeping his open notebook in his other hand. Activating the mixed power again, Izuku took care to charge it slowly to see how it reacted as he added more herolight. As he watched it, the light dimming effect seemed to intensify rather quickly as he added more herolight. It appeared that this ability was much more cost-effective than the other two at the expense of having a lower range. Wanting to record the finding, Izuku passed the leg to the hand holding the notebook, taking care not to lose contact with it, and pulled his pen from his ear to jot down the find. However, when he placed the pen back behind his ear it wasn’t positioned correctly, causing the pen to fall. Turning so he could catch it, he was instead shocked to see the course of the pen’s flight veer to the side and then pull toward the shadowed stick in his hand. Izuku’s eyes bulged in surprise and excitement. Running quickly to a pile of junk nearby, Izuku grabbed a loose handful of various random bits and pieces then made his way over to where Toshinori was working.

“Mr. Yagi, Mr. Yagi,” Izuku called.

The older man looked to Izuku curiously just in time to see the boy shove the handful of scrap at him.

“Throw these at me, please,” Izuku said excitedly.

* * *

Later as Izuku finished noting down the results of the experimentation in his notebook. He tried to ignore Sera’s giggles from near his ear.

“Why are you still laughing about it?” Izuku asked exasperatedly.

“Because the look on his face was hilarious, then you were just tripping over your words trying to explain yourself for like five minutes. How can I not laugh?” Sera explained.

Turning away from the spren Izuku focused back on his notes. It appeared that his new ability was, in a way, the reverse of gravitation. Rather than making what he touched feel the pull of gravity differently it instead made it have a gravitational pull on everything else, but it seemed to be more effective if whatever it was pulling was already in flight. After some more experimentation Izuku found that it was possible to pull something stationary but it took an exorbitant amount of herolight to power his reverse gravitation up to that point. Sera had reassured him that as he swore more ideals his powers would increase in potency so Izuku contented himself with being able to redirect projectiles. As he closed his notebook Izuku smiled, thinking about how grateful he was for the abilities he now had. Standing up with determination Izuku refocused on his current task of cleaning the beach.

* * *

Izuku stared at the small piece of scrap suspiciously. It was part of a broken drill bit and by all indications, it should be inconsequential, except that it was glowing and not in the same nebulous fashion that other objects did when Izuku pushed his power into them. Instead, it sparkled like it was covered in tiny Christmas lights. This discovery was made by accident while Izuku was performing another test with adhesion. He had been trying to see if it was a more efficient use of stormlight to apply adhesion to a large surface to stick a large number of smaller objects to it, or if it would be more efficient to apply the power to each smaller piece individually and then stick them to the larger surface. He knew that timewise just painting a large surface with herolight was the way to go. But, if he had the time and was more worried about conserving energy he wanted to know if he should change his tactics. So he had been meticulously charging each piece of scrap when he had suddenly felt an odd drain on his reserves and noticed the new phenomenon.

“Sera” Izuku called out, getting her attention, “Do you have any idea what this is?”

“Hm?” the spren emoted as she flew over to see what he was talking about. “Ooh, pretty.”

“Yeah, but what is causing this, any idea?” Izuku asked

“Um,” Sera’s face contorted as she searched her memory. “Well, do you remember how I told you how that on Roshar stormlight is collected during highstorms?”

“Vaguely,” Izuku said, trying to remember back to that conversation.

“Well, in order to keep the light between storms it was stored in gems until they wanted to use it,” Sera explained.

“What kinds of gems?” Izuku said intrigued by the new information.

“I… can’t remember the details,” Sera said, becoming slightly disheartened that she couldn’t answer the question.

“That’s fine,” Izuku reassured her, “this is already a huge breakthrough, we just have to figure out what is on the end of this drill bit.” 

Looking at it once more Izuku considered what Sera had said about storing power for later. If he could figure out the mechanics of this it could be a way to mitigate his reliance on caloric intake for his powers. He could spend his time building up stores of energy outside of combat so that he would be in less danger of becoming debilitated by hunger in the middle of a fight. Experimentally, Izuku focused on the sparkling points of Light and inhaled the power, immediately the lights on the end of the broken tool winked out and Izuku felt his reserves fill slightly. 

“Let’s see if Mr. Yagi knows anything about what this is made of,” Izuku said to the spren at his side and the two made their way over to where the older hero was packing garbage into his truck.

“Mr. Yagi, could you help me out with something?” Izuku called as he approached. 

* * *

Toshinori straightened up and looked at his young friend nervously, his mind flashing back to last week when the boy had frantically asked him to launch projectiles at his face. Seeing that the boy had another piece of scrap in his hand but not wanting to be rude he hesitantly replied.

“Of course, Midoriya, what can I do for you?”

When he was close enough Izuku held up the broken tool and pushed some of his herolight into it, dazzling Toshinori as the end was covered in brilliant specks of light.

“I was using my powers to collect small bits of garbage and as I was putting my power into them I noticed that this seemed to take in more light than normal, and upon closer inspection, I found this odd phenomenon. Whatever is on the end of this drill bit appears to act as some kind of energy storage device for herolight.”

“Hmm,” Toshinori puzzled over the information he had been given. Izuku had explained to him that with his power he had to use it or it would just sit inside of himself until it slowly leaked out. A few weeks ago Izuku had also discovered that if he focused he could hold in the light which kept him from glowing and helped him hold his charge longer, but this was the first time that he had discovered anything close to an alternate way to store his unique type of energy. Toshinori quickly recognized that being able to have a store of herolight that didn’t rely on the speed of the human body's metabolic processes would be an enormous benefit for the young hero so this was a great discovery. Taking the small piece of junk from Izuku, Toshinori looked at it closely.

“It appears,” he said after a moment of inspection, “that this is a diamond-tipped drill bit.”

“Wonderful,” Izuku said with a despondent sigh, “good to know that this aspect of my quirk relies on something that is so accessible.”

“Don’t be so down Midoriya,” Toshinori said energetically hoping to lift his young friend’s spirits, “you don’t know that diamond is the only substance that this will work on. Maybe you can try it with other gemstones. In fact…” Toshinori trailed off as he pulled out his cell phone and started navigating through his emails. “Here we are. Look at this Midoriya. I got this invite from the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, they are having a special exhibit planned next month all about gemstones and minerals, and they wanted extra heroes in attendance to protect the collection. I was, unfortunately, unable to accept the invitation due to certain limitations that you are aware of, but I could still get you some tickets.”

Izuku looked at him in awe, “I-I c-can’t ask you to do that Mr. Yagi, you have already helped me so much.”

“Nonsense,” Toshinori said with a laugh. “I will always gladly go out of my way to help a friend.”

Tears began to well up in Izuku’s eyes, but before they could fall he centered himself with a few calming breaths before opening his eyes again and looking to Toshinori with a joyful smile.

“Thank you,” Izuku said sincerely.


	8. Chapter 8

“Mr. Yagi must know some pretty interesting people to be able to get us tickets for free,” Inko said as she and Izuku entered the museum.

Izuku was too distracted by his notebook to realize his mother had spoken to him so Sera decided to respond.

“Of course,” the spren said, “he may not look it but he has connections to some pretty big names in the hero industry.”

“Oh?” Inko responded curiously. “Anyone I would be familiar with?”

“It’s a secret,” Sera responded cheekily.

Inko gave the floating blue girl one of her looks to show she was not pleased about being teased and Sera immediately lost her cheeky demeanor.

The entire exchange went over Izuku’s head as he focused on the parameters for today’s testing. He had spent the night before researching exactly which gemstones would be on display in the exhibit. He knew that diamonds already worked as storage for herolight so he would ignore that portion and focus on the rest of the collection. He knew that it contained myriad types of gemstones as well as many variations on each type. He hoped to find out how certain aspects of each gemstone affected their effectiveness as a storage device, but he knew that his ability to run experiments was hampered by the environment he would be in.

Glancing up from his book as they entered the wing that held their destination Izuku struggled for a moment to hold in his excitement at seeing the heroes present at the exhibit. They were mostly up-and-coming heroes who were still trying to make a real name for themselves. He saw Manual a hero out of Hosu who had just opened his own agency, there was also Burnin a young sidekick who had been drafted by Endeavor’s agency due to her powerful fire quirk, and finally, he could see Centipeder who was part of Nighteye’s hero agency. Izuku quickly made a mental note to get autographs from the three heroes as he and his mother made their way through the exhibit, but he would have to put that off for now so that he could focus on his experiments. The tests he had planned were simple but that didn’t make them easy. He would be moving from display to display and trying to infuse light into the various gems set out for the visitors to see if they started glowing as the diamonds had. He would then need to quickly pull the light back out so that people wouldn’t notice the gems shining unnaturally. 

Preparing for today had been very nerve-wracking for Izuku, He had been hesitant to even do this for fear that he would be punished for inappropriate quirk usage again, but Toshinori had reassured him that those laws stated that quirk usage was punishable only if it could endanger people or property, a person with a quirk that changed their hair color, for example, could use their power with impunity. Izuku had tried overloading the diamonds in the drill bit he had found to see if his quirk would pose a danger to the gems on display and found that after a certain point he just couldn’t add any more herolight into them. It was like putting water into a cup of water after it was full, the excess just ran off the sides. With those findings, Toshinori had reassured him that he was in no legal danger. Izuku had also explained his plan to his mother and she had agreed to it as long as she got to come in order to supervise. Fighting away his anxiety, Izuku focused on his task and made his way to the first display which exhibited an opal on black velvet. 

With regards to his power’s range, Izuku had found that gravitation and reverse gravitation required direct contact with the target, while adhesion was able to be used at a very limited range. Luckily storing Light was similar to adhesion in that it could be done from a distance but the difficulty increased exponentially with greater distances. Unfortunately, with the gemstones locked behind glass cases, it would be impossible to touch them so infusing the stones from a distance was his only option. Focusing on the jewel, Izuku began pushing a thread of herolight toward it. He had filled himself with the energy just before entering the building and was holding in his excess so that he wouldn’t glow, so he had plenty to work with. After pushing out enough herolight to charge the drill bit three times over, however, he stopped due to getting no reaction. Shaking his head Izuku, pulled out his notebook and recorded the results before he and his mother moved on to the next display which contained jade. Again, no reaction was felt from his attempts to store herolight, and the same happened with peridot, agate, and onyx. For a moment, Izuku feared that he wouldn’t find any viable alternatives until he came to the display for topaz. Watching carefully for anyone nearby, Izuku once more pushed out a thread of herolight toward the largest gem at the center of the display. For a moment nothing happened, then the Light came into contact with the golden-yellow stone and the gem drank in the energy and started to shine. Izuku immediately cut off the stream of power and inhaled the light from the stone leaving it as it was before. He was frozen in place from the surprise of the sudden success, then his face split into a grin and he recorded the result in his notebook. Looking at the displays of all the different varieties of precious stones Izuku felt reinvigorated at the prospect of finding more options.

Over the next few hours, Izuku discovered six viable gemstones: topaz, ruby, sapphire, emerald, amethyst, and smoky quartz. As he had been discovering them he noticed several oddities about which gems worked and which gems didn’t. For example, topaz came in a wide variety of colors but only the golden imperial variety of topaz would accept herolight. Similarly, ruby and sapphire were both forms of the mineral corundum which could be found in a variety of colors but only rubies and blue sapphire worked as storage. Izuku had no way of actually finding answers for these issues in his current setting so he took a few notes about the various properties of the gems from the information posted at each display and hoped to do additional research later. 

“Did you find out what you needed to dear?” Inko asked when Izuku finished his notes.

“Yes,” Izuku answered, “I found six more gems that can store herolight so with diamonds that makes seven. After this, I will need to do some research to see if it will be possible to get some of these affordably.”

“Well, if you are done we should probably head out, the museum will be closing in a few minutes after all.”

Izuku was shocked by the comment, having not been aware of the time.

“We were in here that long? I am sorry Mom.”

“Oh, hush,” Inko responded. “We came here for you, and I had a fun time while you did your little experiments. Sera was wonderful company.”

“Yeah don’t worry about it Izuku,” Sera added, making herself known from his mother’s shoulder. She had never sat on anyone else’s shoulder before, so seeing her there was a surprise for Izuku but he was happy that his mother and she were getting along so well.

As they made their way to the exit of the wing that held the gemstone exhibit the three chatted about what they planned with the rest of their evening. They had tickets for a train back to Musutafu which would depart in about three hours so the plan was to spend some time in Tokyo itself. Their discussion was interrupted, however, by a polite, high-pitched voice.

“Sorry for the inconvenience, but would you please come with me for a moment.”

Izuku and Inko froze as Centipeder stepped into their path. Neither of them was sure how to respond to suddenly being approached by the hero. Finally, Inko stepped forward, shielding her son.

“What is this regarding?” she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

“It’s regarding the fact that you two stayed much later than other patrons and that your boy here has been paying a suspicious amount of attention to the gems in this room.” 

Another voice appeared from behind them and Izuku felt an arm drape over his shoulder accompanied by a heat that was just shy of being painful. Where Centipeder spoke with controlled politeness the new addition had a sultry voice that was laced with smoldering malice. Looking to his left Izuku saw that the arm around his shoulder belonged to the fiery-haired heroine Burnin. When his eyes met her she gave him a smirk.

“So what do you say kid, care to share with the class?”

The two Midoriya’s eyes met and Izuku could see the fear in his mother. Recognizing that he needed to say something Izuku breathed deeply centering his mind and bringing his emotions under control. His anxiety still burned in his stomach but when he spoke his voice came out evenly. 

“I am here researching a new aspect of my quirk,” Izuku explained. “I recently discovered that I can store the energy that I convert from calories I have eaten into gemstones.” To demonstrate he pulled the broken drill bit from his pocket, which he had taken to carrying around as a good luck charm. Infusing the drill bit with herolight, Izuku caused the object to shine in its now-familiar way as a demonstration. “I learned about this exhibit and thought it would be a good way to test out if this would work with gemstones other than diamonds, which I have found to be the case in at least six other instances.” He opened his book to the pages containing the information he had collected from the day’s tests, showing the results of his research.

The two heroes looked from the shining object to the notebook and back as they took in his story. When he finished speaking they looked at each other for a moment then Centipeder addressed Izuku directly.

“So your quirk could be used to differentiate real gems from fake ones?” he asked.

“Yes, but only for certain types of gems. So far, I have discovered that I can store power in diamonds, emeralds, topaz, rubies, sapphires, amethyst, and smoky quartz. I don’t yet know what makes those gems different from others,” Izuku answered.

“Well then you can at least help us speed up the process,” Burnin exclaimed before grabbing the boy’s shoulders and beginning to push him away.

“W-w-wait,” Inko called out as the heroine abducted her son. “What is going on?”

“Please come with me and I will explain,“ Centipeder said politely as he motioned for Inko to walk beside him. “One of the reasons for the hero presence in this exhibit was to protect the gems on display. In addition to that, however, the owner of the collection also has an expert gemologist on staff to inspect the gems to make sure they haven’t been switched with counterfeits.” While the hero was explaining the group walked through a door marked “Authorized Personnel Only” into a hallway with several offices and storage rooms. 

“During the inspection yesterday,” Centipeder continued, “the expert found that one of the gemstones was switched with a glass replica. We checked the camera’s but the display was placed in such a way that the visitors to the museum in front of it were obscured. We rearranged everything today and will now be checking again to see if another switch was made. Your son can hopefully help us speed up the process of identifying the gems.”

When Centipeder finished speaking he held the door for Inko and the two walked in to find an odd conflict taking place between Burnin and a thin pale man with a pinched face.

“How dare you bring an unqualified whelp in here to try and usurp my position.” the man said in a haughty voice.

“Listen, poindexter, we aren’t replacing you, we are simply trying to help streamline the process. Apparently, this kid’s quirk will let him instantly check the authenticity of several of the gems that were on display.” Burnin replied hotly.

“As if I would let an inexperienced child handle these precious treasures. Some of these gems have been in circulation for centuries, they are priceless artifacts and-”

“I don’t have to touch them,” Izuku interjected quietly, halting the stuck-up man’s tirade.

“What?” the man asked incredulously.

“I said I don’t need to handle them. When I infuse the energy I produce as part of my quirk into a gemstone it shines if it is the correct type. That is all I can do, I don’t have your ability to judge the specific characteristics but I can tell you whether a stone is real or not.” Izuku tried to sneak in a compliment hoping that stroking the man’s ego would help settle things.

“Oh really?” The man challenged before turning to a briefcase in the corner. Bringing it to the conference table in the room the man opened it and laid out a sheet of black velvet then placed on it two identical-looking, clear gemstones. “Here, let’s test your claims. One of these two is an authentic diamond while the other is an expertly cut piece of cubic zirconia, only an expert would be able to identify the genuine article, so prove that without touching them you can tell them apart.”

Walking up to the table Izuku stretched out his hand and focused on the two side-by-side gems pushing herolight into them. Immediately the diamond began to shine while the other lay dim. Stepping back Izuku left the light in the gem as the gemologist wordlessly reached out and lifted the shining diamond with a set of jeweler’s tweezers. As he held it up to his face the internal light refracted through the multifaceted surface of the cut stone causing little rainbows to shine around the room. Izuku noticed in the rainbows, that some of them had a larger blue band than normal while others had a larger yellow band, idly he filed that away for later.

“Amazing,” the gemologist said absently, “how many gems can you charge at once?”

“I haven’t tested that, but I suppose that as long as I have enough calories available I should have no problem charging gems en masse.”

“So are you okay with us trying this out now?” Burnin asked, grabbing the attention of the gemologist once more.

“Fine,” he responded sullenly when he realized the reaction he had shown to the supernaturally sparkling crystal.

As the museum employees brought in the gems from the display, Izuku approached his mother and she gave him a couple of homemade granola bars made with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips which he ate quickly and washed down with a fruit smoothie. Eventually, the group was also joined by Manual, who was briefed on the plan by the other two heroes. As the final precious stones from the exhibit were being placed on the table Izuku was getting the autographs from the three heroes in the room.

“You know we seriously considered arresting you right?” Burnin remarked as she was handed his notebook and pen.

“I know but this isn’t the first time I have had something like this happen,” Izuku said sheepishly.

“Oooh, a bad boy huh?” the heroine teased as she signed her name. “Bet you get all the girls.”

“Nope,” Sera interjected from her place on Izuku’s head, “this one is about the furthest thing from a bad boy that there is.”

The heroine and the spren shared a laugh at Izuku’s expense, making the teen sigh in exasperation. While the museum workers had been ferrying gems into the room, Sera had introduced herself to the heroes present. Sera was usually content to stay invisible to most people but she seemed drawn to heroes in particular having introduced herself to any that Izuku had come into contact with. Ignoring the two Izuku turned to the task he had been given and surveyed the glittering array of gems. 

“Are you ready?” Manual asked, his voice calm and kind in direct contrast to Burnin.

“Yes,” Izuku said simply.

Stepping up to the table Izuku burned the calories in his stomach and filled his chest with herolight. He didn’t bother holding in the leakage as he planned to expel all of it so he began to glow brightly, causing the heroes present to look at him in surprise.

“I didn’t know he could do that,” Manual said, turning to Burnin and Centipeder for an explanation.

“Neither did we,” Centipeder responded.

Ignoring the byplay behind him, Izuku focused and pushed the light out toward the gems on the table. In a wave gems interspersed among the collection began to ignite like stars in a night sky. Soon the room was filled with a dazzling display of multicolored rays as gemstones glittered with internal illumination. Some of the gems were too bright to look at directly though the ones at the end of the table furthest away from Izuku were noticeably dimmer than those near him. The heroes had him move to the other side of the table and repeat the process so that all of the gems that could be infused shone with the same level of brilliance.

“Which types of gems did you say you could make shine again?” Burnin asked.

Izuku rattled off the list then added, “but this list isn’t exhaustive, I just recently discovered this aspect of my quirk and today was the first time I have ever tested it in this way.”

“Well as payment for your aid I can tell you that you can add garnet and heliodor to your list,” the haughty voice of the gemologist came from beside the table, where the man was already beginning to inspect the different gems. Reaching out he picked up a gem that was absent of light and held it up, Each gem had been placed on a plastic bag with a label indicating the type, cut, and size of the stone in question. The information of the bag the appraiser was holding indicated that it was a garnet. “And if that is the case it means the thief we are trying to catch got a hold of this gem today. I remember authenticating it yesterday when we packed up the museum.”

The heroes exploded into action beginning to speak with security about where the stone had been placed so that they could check the correct camera for evidence. As they worked, the gemologist approached Izuku and his mother.

“I feel I must apologize for my previous attitude, the entire situation of having these precious treasures pilfered has been very stressful for me. Allow me to formally introduce myself, I am Hoseki Saiban.” The man finished with a polite bow.

“Thank you for your apology Mr. Hoseki,” Inko replied, giving a bow in response.

“I must say,” the now-named Saiban said as he stood up, “your abilities are oddly selective.”

“How so?” Izuku asked, curious about the gem expert’s insights

“Well, it appears that your power is almost more dependent on color rather than chemical makeup. For example, pink diamonds are chemically identical to clear diamonds, their color comes from deformations in the crystal lattice caused by extreme temperatures, yet they are dull while the clear diamonds now shine. You also have examples of corundum gems like rubies and sapphires, only the red and blue varieties shine. With similar results for beryl and quartz. It is baffling.”

“Hopefully, I will be able to find a pattern one day,” Izuku said as he lowered his notebook where he had been hurriedly writing down the man’s words.

“Indeed,” Saiban said absently as he gazed at the shining stones. “Well regardless, I must get back to my work, though you did speed up the process I still need to examine the gems and other precious stones that weren’t affected by your quirk. How long will those stay lit by the way?”

Izuku thought for a moment before responding, “I honestly don’t know, I haven’t done any testing on that yet. I can pull the light out though so that won’t be an issue”

“Well then to be safe, let's sort the glowing out from the non-glowing and you can extinguish them. We, unfortunately, can’t put supernaturally glowing gems on display, it would raise too many questions and might hurt the investigation.”

Under the direction of Mr. Hoseki, the gems were sorted and all of the glowing gem’s bags were marked with a yellow dot just in case. When it was done Izuku pulled the light out of the gems and back into himself. The sheer number of gems meant he had to do it in two pulls exhaling light in between and letting it dissipate into the air around him. With his part done the heroes and Mr. Hoseki bid the Midoriya’s farewell and Inko and Izuku hurried to the train station, arriving just in time to catch their train back to Musutafu. 

“Wasn’t that exciting?” Inko said as they watched the darkening landscape pass by outside their window. “You may have helped those heroes catch a real-life jewel thief.”

Izuku blushed and tried to downplay what had happened, “No, they would have found out which gems were fake anyway, I just helped speed things up.” 

“But you did help,” Inko said with a bright smile. “Over the last, what is it six months now since your quirk activated? Regardless, in that time you have grown so much and I couldn’t be more proud of what you have accomplished. I know that when that UA entrance exam comes around you are going to knock everyone’s socks off.” 

Izuku returned her smile and the mother and son shared a tender hug.

* * *

Sera hovered nearby watching the interaction with a loving smile. She felt the same way that Inko did about Izuku’s progress. He had grown so much from the anxiety-ridden, awkward boy that she had been bonded to for so many years. Every moment with Izuku had become a happy memory for her, even when they disagreed and fought, because throughout them Izuku never stopped striving to be better and to help others. Though she was saddened by her inability to remember specifics about her past, she knew that her future would be a happy one as long as Izuku was in it. Unable to stand watching from the outside any longer Sera zipped in between the two humans. Inko and Izuku laughed slightly at the behavior but included the spren in their family embrace not caring that they couldn’t touch her physically because in their hearts she was a Midoriya through and through.

When the family arrived home that night they had a quick meal and went straight to bed, Inko and Izuku both feeling exhausted from the travel and the surprise they had felt at being approached by the heroes. As Izuku lay down to sleep Sera floated around the room lazily. She didn’t sleep and wasn’t even sure if she could, but even so, she always stayed in Izuku’s room until he fell asleep. 

“You know,” Izuku said quietly so only Sera could hear him, “sometimes I am afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” Sera asked.

“I am afraid that I will wake up and everything will have been a dream. That you won’t be here anymore, and I will go back to being the same person I was before that day with the slime villain, when we bonded.”

“SIlly Izuku, that isn’t when we bonded,” Sera said, landing on the pillow next to his head. Izuku turned onto his side so that he was watching her. She saw the confusion her words caused so she explained, “That may have been the day when you said the words that strengthened our bond and made you radiant, but the bond forms before that. It formed way back when you saw me as a child back before I can even clearly remember. So if you do wake up and all the time you were bonded to me was a dream, then all that will have happened is you will be back at the beginning of your journey and you just need to start walking again. As long as you are walking forward, you will always get where you need to go.”

Izuku smiled at her words and his eyes began to droop, “Thanks, Sera,” he said sleepily before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Toshinori groaned as he exited his truck. He rarely came to Takoba Municipal Beach Park in the early morning, usually leaving Izuku to work by himself in these hours, but with the end of the project approaching, he thought it would be nice to see the young man more often. They had been working to clean the beach for nine months now and when it was done Toshinori wouldn’t have a good reason to see the boy anymore, at least not until he made it into UA, which was something the veteran hero had no doubts about. As those thoughts played across his mind, Toshinori stretched his arms above his head and stepped toward the beach itself. As he looked over it he was shocked to notice that it was done. His eyes widened as he scanned the unobstructed view of the rising sun. The beach was unrecognizable as the trash-laden scrapyard it had been when he saw it all those months ago. The last of the garbage had all been gathered near the foot of the stairs that lead down from the parking lot to the sand below. Turning to the pile, Toshinori was again surprised to see a shining figure standing triumphantly at the summit gazing at the rising sun.

“Midoriya,” Toshinori called out, getting the young man’s attention. 

Izuku turned and Toshinori saw the shining youth raise a hand in greeting before leaping from the top of the tower of junk and plummeting to the ground. For a moment Toshinori panicked and prepared to catch the youth but he could tell that Izuku was in control of his fall so he let him land with a loud thump on the sand. Izuku stood easily showing that he was uninjured and Toshinori took in the young man before him. He could hardly remember the scrawny, unconfident boy that he had first met on the day of the sludge villain incident. In that boy’s place stood a young man with a shining smile and a physique that resulted from long hours of hard work. The biggest change, however, was to Izuku’s presence. Where before he would often crouch and shift unconsciously, always preparing for some unseen blow, he now stood tall and self-assured, an aura of calm emanating to those around him. Already Toshinori could see a shadow of the hero this young man had the potential to become as Izuku stood with the rising sun at his back.

“I have to say, young man, you are mighty impressive, you already cleared the beach. It almost makes me feel inadequate.” He finished speaking with a smile to show his pride in his young friend’s accomplishments.

“Don’t say that,” Izuku responded, “I never would have even begun this project without you, you helped clean this beach just as much as I did. Besides, there is still a big pile of trash to haul away if you haven’t noticed.”

The two chuckled for a moment then shared a companionable silence as they watched the sun finish rising over the now clear sands. 

“So you are a month away now, what do you have planned for this time before you reach your goal?” Toshinori asked.

“I will have to continue working and growing. You gave me a lot of great notes for my workout plan and I plan to use them. I also want to start having mental prep days as well. The exam is more than just a physical trial after all.” Izuku answered, then his face became a bit more serious as he continued, “but, the exam isn’t my goal. I have learned that life isn’t just about where you are going but about how you get there. You have to worry about the journey before the destination. The exam is just the next step I have to take so that I can continue on the path to being a hero, and being a hero is just a step on my path to my greater goal to save others. I am going to do everything I can to make sure that no matter what, I will always be working toward the next step on my journey.”

“That is a mighty fine philosophy my boy,” Toshinori remarked.

Izuku blushed slightly at realizing what he had said, “N-no, it-it’s not a philosophy per se, it is just me trying to explain one of my ideals.”

“Oh, you have ideals. Will you share them with me?” Toshinori asked curiously.

Izuku looked to Sera before speaking, and the spren nodded, giving him permission. 

“It goes like this,” Izuku said nervously, then he took a deep breath to calm himself and when he spoke again his voice was clear and purposeful, “Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.”

Toshinori listened intently to the words then spoke as well, “Those are good words. You have chosen a difficult but meaningful path if you plan to follow them. Since you have shared your ideal with me, allow me to share one of my own, instilled in me from my time at UA. I hope that we will share this ideal one day soon.” In an instant, the skeletal form of Toshinori Yagi was replaced by the larger than life visage of All Might, and when he spoke it held the weight of the number one hero behind it. “My ideal goes thusly, and I hope it touches you as yours has touched me. Go beyond, plus ultra.” 

The two heroes faced each other then, one filled with heroic Light and the other a towering symbol of peace. Each internalizing the words of power that had been shared that day on the beach. Nothing else was said between them, the moment felt too sacred for it to be ruined by further conversation and eventually Izuku turned and walked away to continue his journey. All Might stayed a moment longer on the clear beach listening as the surf crashed on the land. As he stood there the thought came to his mind.

“I will always regret that Midoriya couldn’t be my successor but even without this power I know he will make the future a bright one.”


End file.
